OF DAYS TO COME: THE OC SEASON 8
by Tangence McCurson
Summary: Marissa has returned home, after being kidnapped, only to find out Ryan didn't wait for her. Kirstin's visited by her late husband, who wants her to kill Carter. Candy's back, and wants revenge. Seth is drowning, literally. THREE PEOPLE WILL DIE.
1. Awakening

Chapter One

**Early June 2005**

**Ryan is currently questioning his relationship with Marissa, while Seth doesn't know what to do with the quickly growing _Atomic County _empire he and Zach have created. When offered to star in the main role of the upcoming movie version of the graphic novel, Summer Roberts agreed, after Seth much warned her the complications--he was already in the limelight, the comic book becoming a pop-culture phenomenon. Kirstin is nearing her final few weeks at rehab, where she has made several friends, including the mysterious Oliver. She has no idea that he has already caused damage to her life, being the downfall that led here, beginning with the cause of Ryan's leave, which also caused Seth to depart, which led to her drinking problem. She was here because of him, and yet she had no idea.**

**Let the story _continue_…**

Ryan received the phone call that night. It was June the third, and he was asleep in bed. Marissa lay beside him--they hadn't had sex that night--they had **never **had sex before this time. They were just sleeping together (as sex-related as it sounds). Ryan rolled over on his side, rubbing a hand across the top of his head, causing his dark blonde hair to stick up on their ends. "Y'ello?" he said softly. There was a long silence, but Ryan could hear heavy breathing on the other end. "_Hello_?" he said, slightly annoyed with whoever this was--no, not slightly annoyed, _really _annoyed. He again said into the phone, "Hello?" Finally, there was a response, though not the one he had been expecting.

"_The nightmare is about to begin for you, Ryan Atwood_."

Ryan's eyes grew wide. "Who the hell is this?"

"_It starts now_." There was a soft _click _and Ryan could hear the dial tone. Damn those stupid prank callers, he thought as he slammed the phone down on the side of the table, nearly smashing it.

"Who was that?" groaned Marissa, half asleep, rolling over to face him. "I heard something--"

"Shh," he said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her head softly. "Go back to sleep."

Ryan sat there, the moonlight shining down on their bodies through the windows in the poolhouse. How could he go on like this, sleeping with Marissa (not in a sexual way), pretending that nothing had happened, that she hadn't killed his brother--

Then he remembered. She did it for him.

Or so he thought, but then came the day when he learned of new evidence.

She had been drunk the night he had tried to rape her.

And that changed EVERYTHING.

**Late October, 2005**

**Newport, California**

"No!" screamed Ryan as he fell down the well. "Marissa, help me!" He looked up, seeing her towering above the well in which he was falling. The well was bottomless, it was never-ending. He could see the light--and Marissa--beginning to disappear as he descended down the towering well. He extended his hand as far as he could, and managed to grab onto a loose stone. Yes, he had finally caught himself, stopped himself from falling…he looked downwards and saw nothing but darkness…forever… "Marissa!" he called. "Find a rope and help me up!" He glanced upwards and saw her still staring down at him, obviously in shock.

"Ryan?" she said. "Ryan, I can't. I can't, Ryan. He's got me…He's got me…"

"Who's got you?" asked Ryan, confused.

"He's got me, he's got me…"

"Who has you?" demanded Ryan, but, no matter how many times he asked, she kept saying, "He's got me, he's got me."

"WHO?" screamed Ryan finally.

"I do," came a booming voice from above, and, at first, Ryan thought it was God's voice. But, after processing the voice in his mind, Ryan knew who it was. The voice definitely didn't belong to God--more like Satan. That was when he saw a shadow stretching towards the top of the well, making it seem darker still. He recognized the face immediately, probably because of his evil voice.

"Oliver," he gasped, gripping onto the stone harder so that he would not fall in shock.

"It's me," smiled Oliver, throwing a small pebble down the well, which plucked Ryan on the head with a soft _pow_! Ryan squinted his eyes closed in pain, but immediately looked back up, soon enough to see that Oliver was dragging Marissa away.

Away forever.

"NO!" screamed Ryan, trying to desperately climb up the well, but to no success. "No!"

And that dream was what made him wake up.

**New York City, New York**

Summer lay on the floor unconscious. She had lost so much blood from being shot, and had tried to make it down the stairs but wasn't able to. She hadn't fallen down most of the stairs, but then came to a rest at the bottom. A man, old and ragged, around fifty or so, had tried to rape her, but not before a hotel maid spotted him and called for the hotel management. Summer was immediately taken to the hospital, where she was treated and lay unconscious for nearly three days. When she awoke, so did Seth and, halfway across the country, so did Ryan Atwood, their friend in Newport, California.

The doctors told her Seth was okay, and she wanted to go and see him immediately, but the doctors wouldn't allow it. They said that he was paralyzed--that Seth Cohen, the love of her life, the one she would never give up for anything, was paralyzed. He would have died for her, he would have died for Summer, Summer, who had betrayed him a few months before, who he had just gotten back together with.

He loved her.

Seth really, really loved Summer.

And for that he had lost the use of his legs.

**Meanwhile in ?**

Marissa lay in the back seat of a large van. Somewhere near Texas, Oliver had abandoned Ryan's car and stolen an old 80's style van. She lay there, tape over her mouth, legs and arms bound. Her cheeks had raw lines down the sides, where her tears had fallen, where they had streaked temporary scars into her skin. And, even though it hurt her to, she still cried, and cried, and cried.


	2. The Loss of Something Good

Chapter Two

Marissa glared up at Oliver as he wrapped his arms around her legs, lifting up her neck with one arm, in order to boost her up into the air so that she could be carried. This was just as Ryan had done, just as gentle and kind as Oliver, but yet Ryan seemed…less…how could she describe how he had made it so much easier? How she had felt so much more comfort while in her arms, in the warmth of his strong embrace? She loved him so much, and now she feared for the worst.

As he began to fit her into the luggage case, Marissa began to sob. She couldn't talk because her mouth was gagged, and when she tried to dry her tears, her throat closed up and she wasn't able to breath. She tried to scream, congested and in panic, then finally calmed down and caught her breath. He began to zip up the side of the luggage, enclosing her inside of the bag. Marissa let out a muffled scream, but she knew no one could hear her. She felt the _bump bump bump _as he began to steer the rolling suitcase towards the airport entrance. "Please," she thought in her mind. "Please, God…let me get out of this and get back home…to Ryan…"

**Newport, California**

Luke sat at the table, eating his lunch. He had been waiting in the café for the past half an hour for Anna, who he had called and asked--if she still had any feelings for him (which he hoped very sincerely)--she would come to the café to meet with him so that he could explain what had happened that night. Of course, as he had expected, she didn't show. She was probably still filled with anger even at the thought of him, and Luke could understand that. But she needed to know that he didn't want Molly, that he wasn't the one doing the kissing, that it wasn't his fault, that Molly had pushed herself on him, that he couldn't stop her, that she kept on and on and on and on and--that was when he looked up. He saw a tall man, who looked around the age of fifty or so, which graying hair that was slowly becoming wispy and faded. "Luke Ward?" asked the man, stepping forward.

"Yes?" said Luke, surprised that the man knew his name, for he had never met or seen this man before.

"I am Fredrick Stern, Anna's father," said the man.

"Oh, hello, sir," said Luke, extending his hand.

But Fredrick did not extend his; instead, he frowned down at Luke and said in a rumbling voice. "How dare you?"

"What?" Luke was shocked.

"How dare you act like there is nothing wrong, after what you did to my daughter! You should be ashamed."

"Sir, that was a misunderstanding." Luke stood up, trying to offer Fredrick a seat but the man declined.

"I want you to stay away from my daughter."

"But sir--" begged Luke.

"She is returning to Pittsburgh in a week. I don't want you trying to stop her, or trying to interfere with her life. You hear me? You already messed it up once."

Luke was shocked. "She's leaving?"

"I would suggest the same for you, sir," said Fredrick, turning and hurrying out of the café. Luke just stood there, watching the door as several people entered and left, carrying on life as usual. But for Luke, in those few moments, life seemed to stop.

**Meanwhile**

Kaitlyn smiled and kissed Reichen softly on the lips. She was over at his house, working on their Western Civ. project together. She smiled and lowered a cherry into his mouth, watching him bite it off of the stem. He smacked the delicious fruit as if it were the most scrumptious food he had ever eaten. "Yum," he said, kissing her again.

"Maybe we should work on our project," she giggled as they kissed, falling back onto the couch.

Reichen ran his hand up and down her side, slowly moving his hand up her shirt towards her bra. "Or not…" he said softly into her ear, then nibbling on it softly.

"Reichen," she moaned as he unsnapped her bra. "Reichen," she said, pushing him up to where they were in a sitting position. "I don't know…"

"It's all up to you," he said, kissing her softly on the lips. "Do you want to?"

Kaitlyn glanced down at her knees. "Do you?"

"You know the answer to that," he said, kissing her again. "But we don't have to if you don't want to….do you?" He stared into her eyes, and she sat there, thinking for a moment.

"I just…I want…I want to really be in love…"

"I know that I am in love with you," he said, kissing her neck and slowly moving down towards her shoulders. "I love you so much."

Kaitlyn smiled. "I know you do…" She wrapped her arms around his neck and moved his head so that it was wresting against her breasts. She slowly let her tank top slip down her sides, so that her breasts were revealed, concealed in the white bra she had been wearing that day. She slowly reached behind her back and unsnapped the bra, and then led his head to where he could suckle softly on her nipple. She moaned in pleasure as he did so, crying out in ecstasy, and then laid back onto the couch. He began to push her tank top upwards, over her head, and then removed her bra completely.

"You sure you want to do this?" he asked, unsure himself.

She answered him by pulling herself up and then pushing Reichen onto his back, beginning to desperately, in a heat of passion, pull his t-shirt up and over his head. Once she had done so, she saw that his muscles, toned to near perfection, rippled down his chest, all the way to his belly. She kissed his chest, moving ever so slowly downwards, towards the jean buttons, which she unsnapped seductively and began to unzip immediately. Reichen was already eager for her to hurry up, and he immediately began to pull her skirt down her legs, towards her feet. She kicked her shoes and the skirt off, and she lay atop of him in nothing but her underwear. "Reichen," she moaned as he rolled over, so that he could take the top side. "Reichen…yes…" He began to move her panties down her legs, revealing her intimate place, and pulled the underwear down to her ankles, which he lovingly pulled off and set to the side as gently as possible. He then removed his own boxer briefs, revealing his manhood, which, to be truthful, he had never used in his life. Reichen was still a virgin, a very eager virgin.

He began to move over her, entering her, the two moaning in ecstasy, climaxing towards the ceiling. "Yes…" she moaned. "Yes…yes…yes…Oh my God! Zach, yes!"

That was when Reichen stopped suddenly above her.

"What?" she said, looking up at his face which was dripping with sweat. "What is the matter?"

"Who is Zach," he asked.

"What?" she said, shocked.

"Who is Zach?"

Kaitlyn rolled over on her sides, so that she didn't have to face him. "No one…"

"He seems to be someone," Reichen said, rolling her back over so that she faced him. She sat up, her breasts revealed to him and all that may enter the room at any moment.

"He's no one, I promise, Reichen." She kissed him softly on the lips. "I promise." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him harder. "Let's go to the bedroom…"

Reichen shook his head. "I can't get over…what you just said…"

"Reichen," begged Kaitlyn.

"I can't…I just can't…" Reichen stood, reaching for his clothes. "You…you know your way out." And he disappeared up the stairwell.

Kaitlyn sat there, shocked. What had just happened? Had Reichen…had he just broken up with her?

Kaitlyn quickly reached for her cloths, not wanting to cry, wanting to go home before Reichen's parents could arrive. She dressed and then hurried home.


	3. Accidental

Chapter Three

**Somewhere in ?**

Marissa lay in the van, eyes shut, dreaming of Ryan, who was driving in a BMW miles and miles away. He was searching for her, wishing for her to return. But Marissa couldn't, because Oliver--evil, jackass Oliver--had her, and he didn't plan on returning her anytime soon.

"I love you Marissa," Oliver told her night after night. "I love you."

"I hate you," she said in a muffled voice, the duct tape over her mouth keeping her from talking too loudly. She wished that he could hear just what she wanted to say to him. She wanted to say so much: how she hated him, how she wished that he would just drop dead then and there on the spot, how she wished for him to die every night that she lay bound to the bed beside him. He hadn't touched her sexually yet--but that was a yet, for Oliver was so into her, he loved her so much, that she knew that it couldn't be long before he raped her. She knew that it couldn't be long at all.

Marissa lay there and wept, her cheeks raw from the tears streaming down her face twenty four hours a day. She couldn't sleep, and she couldn't eat. Oliver had taken her, and they had been gone for nearly a week. She prayed that Ryan would find her soon.

Please, she begged God, who she seldom talked to, except on occasions like this. Please help me through this. I promise I will be faithful and all of that shit later if you just help me now. Please, I beg you.

But then, as she laid there in the back of the van, watching at Oliver continued to drive further east, God seemed to be so very far away.

**Newport, California**

Ryan recieved a call from Seth and Summer earlier that day, telling him that they had woken a few hours before. They filled him in on what had happened with Candy and how she had tried to murder the both of them. They waited in silence for Ryan to speak, then, finally, Summer asked for Marissa. Ryan stood there for a moment, hundreds of miles away, and then finally began to speak. When he had finished, everything was silent. Everyone was silent.

The birds stopped singing. The traffic stopped blaring. Summer stopped breathing.

But only for a moment.

**Somewhere in ?**

Marissa watched as Oliver pulled into the drive thru at Wendy's. He ordered three large fries, two bacon cheeseburgers, and a large Pepsi. That was when he turned around and asked Marissa if she would care for anything. She began to sob, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Come on," he growled, growing impatient with the woman he loved more than god (did he believe in god? what the hell, he probably didn't. after all, he was a psychopath...and all of that). Marissa waited, and then he said, "Add a burger onto that...and a fry...do you have bar b que sauce? I didn't think so. Ok...that will be all...Thirteen dollars? What the fuck! No, no, I'm fine...ok..." He pulled the car into drive, then began to make his way around to the pick up window. "You know," he said, turning back to Marissa, "You don't have to be rude. I saved your ass, and all you do is ignore me and act like a bitch. I love you Marissa, don't act this way to someone who loves you...you didn't act like this to Ryan...but he was just skank ho."

"Here's your order, sir," said the woman at the drive thru window. She handed him two large Wendy's bags, and said, in the sweetest voice, "May I offer you some salt, ketchup, or napkins, sir?"

Oliver pulled out a gun and shot the woman in the stomach. She groaned, backing away, too shocked to speak. Her mouth was open, blood trickling out of its side. "What..."

"That will be all," said Oliver, flooring the gas pedal and driving off.

**Las Vegas, Nevada**

Zach sat in the courtroom, watching the judge, who had just taken his seat. The man turned to the jury, who were slowly filing into the courtroom. Obviously, they had come up with their verdict. Zach wrung his hands impatiently, waiting to see what would happen. That was when he saw Gabrielle's husband at the back of the courtroom, whispering in a low voice with his attorney. The man must have just entered. Beside him sat two large, bulky men. Zach swallowed hard.

The judge stood, and so did the rest of his audience.

Several minutes later, the judge turned to the jury. "Do you have your verdict?" he asked.

The head juror nodded, sweat streaming down his bald head. "Yes, your honor...we find the defendent..."

Zach swallowed again.

The clockhand slowly moved, tick tick tick. Someone's stomach growled, someone yawned, someone was scratching their back.

He prayed. It seemed that everyone was praying.

**Somewhere in ?**

Marissa watched as Oliver made his way around to the back of the van, shoving a few french fries into his mouth as he walked. He belched loudly, pulling the van door open, and the reached in to grab Marissa. But she was ready for him. She was so very ready.

**Newport, California**

Reichen sat alone in his room thinking about the day before with Kaitlyn.

_"Zach!"_

Reichen swallowed hard, remembering the man's name.

_"Oh, Zach_!"

Who was Zach? Reichen quickly hurried over to his laptop in order to check his e-mail for any message from Kaitlyn. But that was when he heard something pelting against his bedroom window. He hurried over to the windowsill, seeing rocks slamming against the glass. "Who's there?" he called. There was no answer, only more rocks, more rocks, more rocks.

Reichen pulled open the window, only to be pelted by a rock in the head. "Damn!" he cried, and saw that Kaitlyn stood on the grass at the side of his house.

"Sorry!" she yelled.

"It's okay," he said, rubbing his head.

"No," Kaitlyn said ever so softly. "I really mean it...sorry..."

**Somewhere in ?**

Marissa shoved Oliver back onto the ground. She had managed to free herself of most of the duct tape and rope during the five hour ride to wherever they were. She began to kick and punch him, doing the best she could for her little weight. The good thing was that Oliver wasn't that big either. Somehow, though, he managed to through her off of him, onto the tarmac, and grabbed a large cinder block. He slammed it upside her head numerous times, then, when he managed to stop himself, he saw that she wasn't moving.

"Marissa?" he said softly, sweat streaming down his face. "Marissa, are you okay?" That was when he came to a realization."Oh my God! Marissa, no!" He fell to his knees and began to cradle her in his arms. "Marissa, I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't mean to kill you! I swear!"

**Next week: Marissa's dead...what will happen? Will Oliver be caught? Will Ryan get justice? Will Summer be arrested? Is Seth okay? Is Zach guilty? Will Kaitlyn and Reichen work things out, or is she meant to be with Zach. Remember: Everything isn't always what it seems...**


	4. Covering Up

Chapter Four

Marissa lay on the tarmac, blood oozing from her head. Oliver leaned against the car, breathing heavily, panicked, wandering what to do, what to do… He ran across the road towards a convenience store, leaving Marissa behind, laying there, motionless, open, unaware, dead. Oliver wasn't thinking, he was just panicking. He shoved his way into the store, trying not to make a scene, but doing so anyway. "May I help you sir?" asked the lady at the cash register?" Oliver shuddered, ignoring her completely, and continued to make his way down the isle towards the toiletry section. There he found paper towels, which he took in plentiful amounts, and made his way back down the isle until he found trashcans. Oliver swallowed hard, breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathing out. He ran a hand through his hair, then sighed quickly, grabbing a box of trash bags, and ran down the isle. He nearly knocked over an elderly woman, who cried out and began to yell at Oliver. Oliver ignored her and instead made his way up to the cash register. "Will that be all?" asked the same woman who had sounded so worried just a few seconds before.

Oliver sighed, slipping his hands into his pockets, rummaging for money. "Yes," he said softly. "That's all I need…for now…"

**Meanwhile in Las Vegas, Nevada**

Zach's mother began to cry behind him, sobbing--for joy. The verdict was not guilty, and Zach's heart was swimming with emotion. He was so excited, so happy, so filled with joy. He ran a hand through his hair, then grabbed his lawyer and hugged him tight, thanking him over and over and over. Zach then turned to his father, who smiled, and then they embraced heartily. "Thank God," said Zach's father. "Thank God…"

Zach sighed softly. "I need to thank someone…"

**Newport, California**

Ryan grabbed his gun, shoving it into the suitcase, and began to zip the suitcase up. He was leaving, going to find Marissa. He didn't know how, he didn't know how long it would take him, but he knew that he had to do it. He had to find her, had to find her quick and make sure that she was okay. If Oliver hurt her…

Ryan couldn't think about it…

All Ryan knew was what he would do to the freak whenever he found him…

The freak who had killed his mother.

**Five Years Before**

_Ryan hurried past the police cars, shoving his way into Dawn's house. "Mom!" he called, searching the area for his mother. "Mom, where are you?"_

_The officers looked at him as if he was gum, thrown to the ground, and then peeled off of the face of the earth. He swallowed hard, searching, searching…where was she? That was when someone approached him--an officer. The officer smiled half-heartedly, then asked Ryan who he was. "I'm Ryan Atwood," said Ryan. "I'm Dawn's son--the woman who lives here…what happened to her? Where is she?"_

_The officer shook his head, then sighed. "Son, I don't know how to tell you this but…your mother is dead…"_

_Ryan gasped. "What?"_

"_Someone sneaked in last night and…they…they decapitated her…"_

"_What?" Ryan was in shock. "What?"_

"_Your mother is dead, son."_

_Ryan's breath caught in his throat. He couldn't swallow, couldn't breathe. "What?"_

"_Should you sit down?"_

"_WHAT?" Ryan swung around and grabbed a chair, slamming it into the wall. "Who did this?"_

"_We don't know, son…"_

"_WHO DID THIS?"_

"_We don't know…now just calm down…"_

_Ryan spun around. "My mother just died! Don't tell me to calm down!" Ryan turned and hurried off into the living room. "I want to see her--where is she?"_

_The officer sighed. "In the morgue…"_

_Tears were streaming down Ryan's cheeks. Ever so softly, he said: "Take me there? Please?"_

_The officer sighed. "Hold on, son…let me get my car…"_

**Somewhere in ?**

Oliver mopped up the blood as quickly as possible. He desperately tried to clean her up, to get the blood out of her face, her hair, her mouth. He ran his hands down her body, touching her ever so softly. "Marissa," he said, tenderly. "Wherever you are right now…just know that I am so, so very sorry. Forgive me, my love." He hooked his arms under her shoulders and lifted her up into the back of the van. "I love you…I loved you…I don't know…I still do…I am so very sorry…Goodbye…" He shut the door and walked away slowly. That was when an idea came to him…He didn't want to hurt Marissa…she was so beautiful, even in death…but…

That was when he saw the cashier woman, who had been so concerned about him earlier, leaving the market. She waved, smiling gently at him, and said hi. "Hi!" he called after her. "What are you doing?"

"Going home," she smiled. "It's been a long, hard day at work. Got to go and see my kids….I've got three. Do you have any kids? How old are you, anyways?"

"Old enough," said Oliver. "I've only loved one girl in my whole life…and she didn't love me back…"

"Oh." The woman smiled. "Okay, well, I'll see you later?"

"Sure."

"Bye then."

"Bye."

She climbed into her car, pulling the door shut behind her. Revving the engine, she began to reverse out of the driveway. Oliver turned and hurried back towards the van. He climbed into the front seat, revving the engine himself, and began to follow the woman home.

**Newport, California**

Kirsten sat watching the ocean from far away. The hotel room was large and blue and Carter laying in the bed beside her made it all the more better. She still hadn't told Seth about her and Carter's relationship--the passion, the heat, the romance. He was away in New York, after all.

Kirstin turned to Carter and kissed him gently. He ran his hand up her stomach, resting on her breast, massaging her nipple. He kissed her softly, then harder. He lowered her onto the bed, climbing atop Kirstin, beginning to enter her, to move inside her.

"Oh Carter," she moaned softly. "Carter…"

He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her neck, her breasts.

"Carter…" she moaned, digging her nails into his back. "Carter…yes!"

He dug deeper and deeper inside of her, until they climaxed with passion.

And then they lay side by side, entangled in one another.


	5. Discovery

Chapter Five

**Memphis, Tennessee**

They found the body about a mile from Memphis, Tennessee, where it had been laying for some amount of days. It was in the middle of an intersection, on the grassy median, in a plastic bag. The bag was a large black one: heavy duty, in fact. They determined that it was bought from a CVS store--name brand type. A van was found a few miles away, parked on the side of the road. Actually, it wasn't much of a van anymore. Someone had set it on fire, the van blowing up and leaving behind nothing more than ashes and what was left of the base of the car. Police knew that the van was somehow involved in the murder of the woman or man that lay in the black trash bag in the median on the interstate. They weren't quite sure how to connect it, but they knew that somehow, somewhere, these two pieces of evidence fit together like puzzle pieces. They just knew it.

And, for once in an eternity, the police were right.

**Newport, California**

Kaitlyn stood down on the ground, staring up at Reichen. He had a look of shock plastered on his face. His look said something like: "What are you doing here?" or "Why the Hell do you think that you can show up now after you just moaned some other man's name while we were making love?" Either way, it was a look of displeasure. Reichen sighed, waiting for Kaitlyn to speak. Finally, words came to her mouth. They came like rushing water, ready to escape, to be free. They didn't want to be held, contained. These words were her emotions, how she felt for Reichen. Yet she couldn't let him know, she couldn't be weak, she had to be strong, stand up for herself. So she spoke, and her emotions didn't phase her.

"Reichen," she said, "I'm sorry about before."

"Whose Zach?" His voice was stern and cold. He didn't want to hear her apologies, her remorse, her pain. All that Reichen wanted was answers. Answers to questions he had waited long to know. "Is he your boyfriend? Are you cheating on me? Are you in love with someone else? Tell me, Kaitlyn. I want to know…I want to know now."

Kaitlyn sighed, then began to speak softly. "Zach was an old boyfriend. When I first came back to Newport…he was here and…we fell in love…"

"So, are you still going out?"

Kaitlyn looked shocked. "What?"

"Are you still going out?"

Kaitlyn thought about this question for a few moments. "Uh, no…He left me for another woman a while ago…he came back…"

"When did he come back?"

"This summer."

"What?" Reichen was shocked. "We were dating this summer! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew something like this would happen. I know you would go all Reichen and shit on him…Reichen, I love you…"

"Where is he?"

"I don't know…"

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I chose you over him!" she screamed finally. "Is that what you wanted to hear? I chose you over him, Reichen. He came to me, wanting to get back together, but I made him leave…I broke his heart."

Reichen stood there, above her, watching from his window. "What?"

"You never know a good thing when you've got it, do you Reichen?" She turned, walking away. "I hope you're happy. I know that Elise will be glad we're broken up. She's, like, madly in love with you or something. Of course, knowing this and seeing you talking to her every day at school doesn't make me jealous…whatever. Bye." She disappeared into the shade of trees.

Reichen stood there, stunned. What had he just done? Had he lost Kaitlyn forever? Reichen sighed, leaning against the wall of his room. That was when his phone rang. It was Elise on the other end, asking what their history homework was. Reichen angrily hung up on her, then turned and fell on his bed, closing his eyes and trying not to think. It was best in times like these just to be silent, not to think, not to think…

**Meanwhile…**

Ryan drove down a highway in New Mexico, racing towards Texas as fast as he could. He had gotten a call from his ex-step-father (if that was what he would call him now--Ryan wasn't sure) saying that a body had been found in Tennessee. He prayed that it was someone else, that it was not Marissa. He carried with him a sample of her DNA--her piece of a clipping from her first hair cut. He prayed that it would work. He prayed, he prayed, he prayed. Please God, don't let it be her. Don't let it be my first and only love, the only one that I can ever be with, the one that I can't be without.

Ryan looked down at his side, where a revolver lay, loaded and ready. Yes, he was ready, ready for Oliver, ready for payback…payback for everything that bitch had done to him over the past five years.

_The officer shook his head sorrowfully. "We haven't been able to find out much about your mother's death, son…I'm very sorry, might I add, for your loss. I know what you must be going through."_

_I doubt that, thought Ryan to himself. He stared blankly at the wall across from him, hearing but not listening to what the officer said. "What have you found out? Anything?"_

"_Well, her friend--Marie, I think it is--said that Dawn had been talking about someone she was dating before she died, but we don't think he's connected to the murder."_

"_What's his name…I want to talk to him…" Ryan looked up at the officer, pleading. _

"_Okay," said the officer, flipping through his notebook. "Let's see…the woman said…she said that she thought his name was a Mr. Oliver Trask…know anyone by that name, son? Familiar to ya?"_

_Ryan's eyes flared up in anger. "Oh, yes…that name rings a bell." He stood up, without even saying goodbye, turned, and walked away, determination on his mind._

_He was determined to get revenge for his mother._

He still was.

And he was determined to find Marissa.

_Marissa._

**NEXT WEEK: MARISSA IS DEAD? THERE'S A NEW ARRIVAL IN THE O.C.! WHAT ABOUT SETH AND SUMMER? LUKE AND ANNA? FIND OUT NEXT TIME!**


	6. Arrival

Chapter Six

The girl sat on the bus alone, waiting patiently as they slowly pulled up at the bus stop. The doors swung open, revealing a misty setting that seemed so unwelcoming as she stared out upon it. Her blonde hair dangled down to her elbows. The girl, around twenty-seven, just a few months older than Seth, and a month younger than Ryan, resembled many of Newport's fabulous elite. But she had never been here before, or at least not to her knowledge. She was told that her parents lived here, and that she could find them still alive and well. They weren't married, the government had said. They had never been married, in fact. She had been a love child, one born out of wedlock, into adultery. Only she didn't know that. All that Keegan knew was that she had never known parents before, and she would love to know some now. She looked back down at her sheet that she held crumpled in her hands from squeezing it so tightly during the hours of riding. She read the names once more, then sighed. How would she ever find these people? She had no idea how big Newport was--or if it were the exact opposite. Would they welcome her or shun her? Would they even know her? They probably wouldn't remember her--at least not at first sight. But they would know who she was. She told herself this over and over and over. They had to know Keegan. After all, she was their daughter.

Keegan looked back down at the sheet, the names on it blurry and barely readable. She sounded out the names once, and then practiced how she would say them over and over and over. "Jimmy Cooper," she said to herself, rubbing her thumb down the paper, sighing, trying to suppress the wild wrinkles as they desperately tried to crinkle up and blur her vision. "Jimmy Cooper and…who is this name…Kirstin Cohen…" She said it to herself over and over. "Jimmy Cooper and Kirstin Cohen. They are my parents…they are my parents…"

She turned and made her way down the walk, hopeful for a new future.

**Hagwell, Tennessee**

Ryan got the call at his hotel room around two in the morning. It was some detective in Memphis who was looking for him. "Y'ello?" said Ryan, yawning, stretching out and then rubbing his eyes.

"Ryan Atwood? This is Detective Mayer, calling from the Memphis Police Department. Did I wake you?"

Of course you woke me, moron. Ryan didn't say this, no matter how much that he wanted to, but instead gave the polite answer. "No sir. Do you have any results from the body…is it Marissa?"

"Are you sitting down sir?"

"Yes, I'm sitting down," said Ryan, scratching his arm. "Was it her?"

"I am sorry to say this, Mr. Atwood, but your girlfriend…" The officer paused. "She's dead."

Ryan sat there in silence, the phone in his hand, his jaw dropped to an enormous length. "What?" he finally managed to say.

"Mr. Atwood, Marissa Cooper is dead."

**Atlanta, Georgia**

Oliver drove faster in the car. He knew that Ryan could be anywhere, chasing after him, now that he thought that Marissa was dead. This gave Oliver happiness, knowing that he had made the man who was his arch-nemesis for so many years suffer so much pain. He was overjoyed at this thought, at knowing that Ryan would suffer for days. But he knew that Ryan would be over Marissa in no time. He knew that Ryan wasn't really in love with Marissa. The only person that had ever loved her was he, Oliver Trask, the man who had fought for so many years for Marissa's love, but yet had gotten nothing in return, besides hatred and dislike. But that was all changing now. Ryan thought that Marissa was dead. He would go home and bury the body, mourn her for a while, just to make it look like he cared for her and all of that shit, and then he would move on. He would find someone else that he "loved" just as much, they would have sex, make a few babies, get married, divorce, then he would marry again. This is what people like Ryan Atwood did. This is what scum off of the face of the Earth did. This is what crap did. They didn't love, they only had possessions. Ryan hadn't loved Marissa, he had only owned her. But now that was all changing. Ryan Atwood would never see Marissa Cooper again. Ryan Atwood would never be seen again, besides the constant threats and chasing and shit, but that was all. Oliver was free of Ryan Atwood forever. And now, thought Oliver, as he turned around to face the back of the stolen car, now Marissa was all his. He reached back and stroked her soft damp hair. She was sweating furiously. She had been for days. They had made love--what he considered making love--the day before, while she was doped up on narcotics that he gave her. She was so beautiful, and so wonderful at sex. He loved her so much, and they would always be this way. They would be like this forever.

Forever.

And somewhere, miles and miles and miles away, Ryan Atwood thought that Marissa Cooper, his one and only true love (whatever!) was dead. Hah! Oliver laughed at people like Ryan Atwood, people who would never get their way in life. Oliver was definitely not like Ryan Atwood. After all, Oliver had Marissa.

**Newport, California**

Kirstin heard the doorbell ring downstairs. She carefully climbed out of bed so as not to wake Carter. Making her way downstairs, she began to wonder who would be up this early in the morning. She turned the corner and began to make her way down the hall. She would tell off whoever it was.

Opening the door, Kirstin saw a tall woman around Ryan and Seth's age with long blonde hair and deep blue eyes. The woman smiled at her and said, "Hi, are you Kirstin Cohen?"

"Yes," groaned Kirstin, rubbing her eyes. "Who are you? What do you need?"

"Sorry to wake you," said the woman, "but I think that you're my mother."


	7. Piling it High on Our Plates

Chapter Seven

**This chapter may be too violent for the weak of heart. It is rated, on Tangence's standards, NC-17 for violence, sexual content, and language. You have been warned.**

Marissa lay on the bed as Oliver stood in the bathroom of the hotel, shaving his face. She lay there, smiling, doped up on liquor and whiskey, wine and champagne, basically anything that Oliver could find to make her love him. And after she had been doped up on narcotics, alcohol, and (Oliver repeatedly reassured himself) love, she was ready to make love to him, where he wasn't the only one getting pleasure from the romantic act of passion.

He turned to her, boxer briefs on, already hard just looking at her lying there, bra shoving her breasts up to a perfect height, underwear slim and fit, every curve in her body perfect and right and amazing, and suddenly he couldn't resist himself anymore.

"Oliver," she moaned, motioning him towards her in a drunken voice, "come and sit down….make love to me…." She opened her arms, ready to receive him. He stood there, hard as a rock, ready to take her, take her, take her. Marissa, who he had waited for so many years to make love to passionately, to hold her in his arms, to kiss her, enter her, move with her until they cried in ecstasy. She lay there before him, willing and ready, and all he could do was stand there and watch her, gaze in her beauty, amazed that such a creature even existed so beautifully in a world so horrible as this.

He hurried towards her, climbing atop Marissa, kissing her lips passionately. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to get as close as possible, closer, closer, had to feel her body, needed her, wanted her even more, more, more! He cried out, wanting her, needing her, fumbling for the back of her bra, struggling with its hook until it finally came undone. When it popped, revealing her luscious, beautiful breasts, he sat above her, amazed, mystified by the glorious beauty that was her womanhood. He began to massage her nipples gracefully until they rose, hardening under his touch. Then, when he thought it a suited time, he dipped his head low and began to suckle her breasts.

Marissa's body bolted up with pleasure, under his firm grip, his hold on her body, on her pleasure. She cried out, wrapping her arms around his head, pushing him deeper as he sucked more and more viciously, Marissa crying, crying out, crying with pleasure, with pain. "Oh God, yes!" she moaned, then watched as he pulled back and began to fumble with his boxer briefs. "No," she moaned. "Stay close to me…Oliver, I need you!"

He pulled his boxers to his feet, revealing his manhood, and then began to tug her panties down to her ankles, examining her as he had always dreamed of doing. "Oh Marissa," he moaned, getting closer to her, their heated bodies meeting in passion. He entered her, moving above her, inside her, deeper, deeper, deeper.

"God!" she moaned, screamed, cried out.

"Marissa!" he wrapped his arms around her, growing louder and louder, higher and higher, bouncing off of the ceiling with pleasure. He grabbed at her newly shortened hair, gripping it, moaning, crying with pleasure.

Later, after sex, they lay side by side, holding each other. "You know," said Marissa, still drunk, "I've never been with a man like you before. I love you so much, Oliver."

He moaned, pulling her closer to him. "I know," he said. "I know…stay close to me Marissa….I couldn't bare to think what would happen to you if I wasn't close to you…what might happen to me…"

"Why did you kill that woman?" asked Marissa suddenly, not suspiciously, but more like a small girl.

"So we could be together." Oliver smiled to himself. "And now we are…"

**Atlanta, Georgia**

**In the Same Hotel in Which Oliver and Marissa are Staying**

Ryan didn't realize it--he would be shocked to know--that Marissa was down the hall, and down the stairs from him. She was so close, yet she felt so far away to him now. For the most that Ryan knew, Marissa was dead. They said that the body, which was severely and savagely brutalized, had been raped before she had been killed. Ryan cried when he thought of this, when he thought of Oliver raping his beautiful Marissa. He sobbed, cried, screamed, threw things, slammed his fist into walls. Soon the hotel room was turned upside down in Ryan's pain, and he had only one thing left to do.

He had to kill Oliver…

But would he ever find him? No…

No, he doubted it…

Ryan turned and began to walk towards the bathroom.

_Find Oliver! _Something screamed. This something screamed a lot nowadays, and it had conflicting emotions. Ryan took the razor from the sink. _No! _It screamed.

_Yes! _It cried back at itself.

Ryan looked up at the mirror, tears streaming down his face. He couldn't see his reflection: the hot water running in the sink had fogged up the mirror to where his own figure was unrecognizable.

_Do it._

Ryan quickly sliced his left wrist.

Tears streamed down his cheeks.

But he felt no pain.

And slowly, his blood began to pour into the sink below.

Then he cut his next wrist.

No pain.

"Marissa!" he called out through the tears, the fog, the blood. "Marissa--"

He felt--

_**faint**_

but yet felt

_**nothing**_

at all.

"Marissa!" he cried his last cry. Then he fell to the floor in a puddle of his own blood.

**Newport, California**

Kirstin sat on the couch, staring at the girl blankly. "So…you're Keegan? That's your name? We never expected--I never expected for him to name you…her to name you…I don't know what to think!" Kirstin stared down at her feet. "We gave you up because…we weren't married…"

"Oh," said Keegan, but not really understanding..

"I was married to a man names Sanford Cohen--we called him Sandy--and at the time, we were just getting into marriage life and all of that, and we were having some troubles… When it got worse, I turned to my best friend, Jimmy. We had been in a relationship before, and it was very easy to rekindle that old flame…but when we found out that I was pregnant, we had to immediately stop what we were doing. The relationship ended and we managed to abort a possibly serious situation…."

Keegan nodded. "So I'm the daughter…I was part of your affair?" Tears began to stream down her face. "You didn't even think about me being your child, did you?" Her eyes flared up with anger. "How dare you call yourself a mother. You are no better than women who kill their children!" She stood and ran off down the hall towards the front door.

"Keegan, wait!" Kirstin cried after her.

But it was too late. Keegan had already ran outside.

Sometimes, we blame ourselves when it isn't necessary to do so. We pile it all atop of our heads and take it as our job to carry it around for years at a time. Different people deal with this differently. Some run away, while others try to end things as easily and quickly as possible.

Either way, we all lose by trying to escape out problems instead of fixing them.

In one life or another.

**Next week: What will happen to Ryan? What about Keegan? What's happening with Seth and Summer? Will Reichen and Kaitlyn's relationship be okay? Read to find out!**


	8. Goddamn the News

Chapter Eight

It was a clear summer day when everything began to fall apart for Julie and Jimmy Cooper. They had been searching desperately for their daughter, making phone-calls, having press meetings, desperately trying to get people to get involved in order to find Marissa Cooper. They were in the middle of a meeting with Diane Sawyer when there came a knock at the door. Diane rolled her eyes, wondering aloud who it could possibly be that would have the nerve to interrupt them. When pulling open the door, Julie found that it was Kirstin Cohen. She looked teary eyed and swollen in the face, as if she had been crying. It had been a day since Keegan had left--though she was not crying about that. She had just received a phone call from the Memphis Police Department saying that they had found Ryan in his hotel room nearly dead after he had cut his wrists. They also said that they had, just recently, found the body of Marissa Cooper on the interstate highway. They said that they had discovered the body earlier that morning.

Kirstin stood there, staring at Julie, Julie knowing what Kirstin was about to say, but not wanting to hear it. So Julie simply turned, without saying a word, without showing a bit of emotion, and made her way over to the window overlooking the city. The cameras were still rolling, and catching every minute of this.

"Where did they find her body?" asked Julie, no sign of emotion in her voice.

"On…on a median on an interstate in Tennessee, I think…in a…"

"In a what?" snapped Julie, still no emotion in her voice, though her tone sounded enraged in anger and hatred for whoever did this to her beautiful daughter.

"A trash bag," said Kirstin, her voice barely audible. "The found her body in a trash bag…."

Julie spun around to the window, slamming her fist into the glass so that it shattered in her rage. As she spoke, her voice began to crack. Blood oozed down her arms, and Jimmy ran to go and get medical help. "Who did this to her?"

"They think…Oliver…you remember Oliver?"

The salty tears and blood began to mix together, creating a concoction of fear and hatred and regret and allover terrible emotion that Julie could not suppress anymore. "Goddamnit!" she screamed, spinning around and grabbing a folding chair. "Damn you to Hell, Oliver! Damn you!" She threw the chair across the room so that it smashed into one of the video cameras. "Damn you!" She threw another chair, and then kicked one to the floor. "Goddamnit, you mother-fucker! I hate you so much! I hate you! I hate you!"

The room was silent except for her shrill screams. Finally she broke down, falling to the ground and beginning to sob hysterically. "My Marissa…my Marissa…"

Kirstin stood at the door, afraid to approach Julie.

Yes, Kirstin stood there for the longest time…


	9. Revelations

Chapter Nine

The funeral service was held the next Monday at 3:00 in the afternoon. The cemetary was filled with a blackness, and the sun beamed down like a heater, ready to scorch the mourners. People sighed and fanned themselves with their programs, waiting for the graveside service to be held and finished with. Jimmy stood a few feet away from Julie. He couldn't bare to look at anyone, all he could do was stand in silence and look at the large painted portrait of his daughter, Marissa Cooper. He sighed, not really knowing what he was sighing about. He knew that Marissa was dead, but yet he didn't. It hadn't exactly hit him yet that his daughter who he had had for so many years was actually gone, permanantly.

Or at least that is what he thought.

But halfway across the country, Marissa Cooper stood chained to a wall in the basement of an old house that she and Oliver had just moved into. Oliver was upstairs, making her something to eat. He said that he was going to make her a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwhich, which, he didn't know, she hated. What she liked was Grilled Cheese. But Oliver didn't know that. He didn't know anything about her. All that Oliver knew was that he loved her, or at least he thought he loved her. Unless she was doped up on alcohol or narcotics that he had given her, the relationship was really a one-sided thing.

He had raped her last night. She had tried to stop him when he was making love to her, but he wouldn't. He had become violent, rash, nearly ripped her to pieces in the heated sex. She screamed for help day in and day out, but no matter where they were, Oliver made sure that no one heard her.

Marissa stood there, chained to the wall, wondering when she would be set free.

Back at the funeral, Ryan was sobbing quietly to himself before Marissa's casket. He knew that he had to find Oliver. He knew that he had to find that evil bastard and rip out his throat and feet it to him. Yes, that is what Ryan would do. He would beat Oliver to a pulp and let him die. He would cut his throat and let him lay there in misery. Ryan would let Oliver feel the pain that he had so eagerly offered to all of the people of Newport.

Ryan's heart hurt miserably for Marissa. He wanted her back so badly, but he knew he could never have her.

And what hurt the most was the fact that someone had taken her away from him, something he had tried so hard to keep. And now she was gone. Gone. Dead. Away. In heaven. Or whatever there was.

Ryan prayed for a heaven. He prayed that, one day, he may see Marissa again.

**Meanwhile**

Keegan sat watching the ceremony. She sat there, knowing that her half-sister was dead. She had wept the night before, wondering why she couldn't have come here sooner, why she couldn't have met the girl. She wondered why her mother and father hadn't wanted her, and yet both of them were only a few feet away. Kirstin stood with her boyfriend, Carter, his arms wrapped around her as she sobbed silently into his arms. Jimmy stood a few yards away, his eyes large and blank in fear and hate and sadness. She could feel for both of them. She had lost, at one time, the only mother she had ever known. When she was twelve, she had been adopted by Dawn Snide, a young woman who was unable to have children and felt that she would never find the perfect man. Keegan had grown to love Dawn over the next five years. But then one day Keegan came home from school. She had been walking with her friend, Alicia, when she saw that an ambulance was sitting outside her home of five years. Keegan, in a rush, ran to meet the medics, asking what was wrong.

They told her that her mother had died.

Her mother was gone.

Dead.

And Keegan would never see her again.

What happened? Keegan asked.

The medic sighed, obviously not wanting to have to break the news to the daughter of the victim.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" demanded Keegan, tears streaming down her face, her cheeks blotchy and red from fury and anger. "How can my mother just die? How?"

The medic sighed and said softly, "Your mother was beaten to death by a man..."

"What?" Keegan had been shocked. "What are you talking about? Did someone break into her house?"

The medic sighed and then turned to a nearby cop. He asked the cop to fill Keegan in on the details.

"We think that your mother was murdered by a man that she met at a bar a couple of nights ago. Apparently she invited him into her home and he attacked her." The cop sighed. "I'm very sorry."

Keegan stood there, blank and emotionless. "Did you find him?"

"Yes, we caught him trying to escape from town. He's in jail now, sweetheart. He'll never bother another person again."

"I don't care if he bothers another person!" Keegan screamed. "I don't care if he kills everyone on this fucking planet! I just want my mom back!" She kicked the police car and then ran off quickly.

The cop stood there, watching her silently.

Now Keegan thought back. And then she remembered where she was. At a funeral. Then she remembered her mother again. Her mother's funeral. And she looked over and saw Ryan Atwood standing there. For some reason, somehow, he seemed farmiliar. Only she couldn't remember...he just reminded her of...who was he...?

That was when the preacher said, "Amen."

And people began to make their ways towards their cars.

And Keegan was left there, standing, thinking, wondering.

"What is happening to me?" She asked herself. Her heart swelled to an enormouse height. Tears began to pour down her face. She couldn't speak. Only a crackle of a voice escaped in a slight whisper. She approached the coffin and placed her hand atop it. "I'm sorry that I never got to meet you, sister," Keegan said softly. "Maybe we'll meet some day...wherever you are..."

And with that, Keegan turned and walked off into the distance.

**Coming Up...**

**Ryan goes on a rampage.**

**Kirstin comes to some realizations.**

**Seth and Summer are back in town.**

**Seth must learn to deal.**

**What will happen with Kaitlyn?**

**Can Jimmy and Julie cope?**

**Will Kirstin and Jimmy find room in their hearts for Keegan?**

**And the truth of Keegan's past is revealed.**

**Plus: Romances are kindled and rekindled...**


	10. Homecoming

Chapter Ten

Summer pushed the wheelchair forward with little effort, a solemn look on her face. They hadn't flown in before Marissa's funeral. They had still been at the hospital, recovering from their injuries. Seth sat in the wheelchair, paralyzed from his legs down, the doctors said that he would probably never be able to walk again. Tears streamed down Summer's cheeks when she thought about this. She wanted to kill herself for doing this to Seth. After all, it was her fault. If she had not accidentally killed Yugi, then Candy wouldn't have come searching for her, wanting to kill her, and Seth wouldn't have had to throw her out of the window from so high, where they both tumbled to the ground.

Sitting by the window the night of the attack, looking down at the motionless bodies of Candy and Seth, she thought they were both dead. People had gathered around the two bodies constrewed on the ground, wondering what had happened. Summer screamed for help, cried for need of love and care and help and she just wanted soemone to doctor her wounds and take the bullets from her flesh. She wanted to be able to feel again.

Now she stood there, tears streaming down her face, unable to breathe. An empty hollowness filled her, and when she inhaled it whizzed an echo of solemn death that had been confined in its midst for the past few weeks. Summer wanted to scream for pain of suffering, but she was in an airport, pushing Seth forward in his wheelchair, and people would begin to wonder. People would approach her, try to comfort her. Seth would try to comfort Summer. And now Summer could barely stand to look at him. She had done this, she had made him the way he was, she had destroyed his life, and now she had to live with that, she had to look at him and realize all of the pain and suffering that she had caused was really real, it was really there, and Summer could not bare that realization.

So she just continued to push Seth forward in his wheelchair, stopped for a few moments to wipe the tears from her cheeks that was burning her skin, and then continued onwards. She could hear the ranting of people who had lost their luggage, the joy of others who were meeting their relatives whom they hadn't seen in years, the sorrow of those who had departed for other causes.

Summer pushed Seth forward, concentrating on these emotions. Any emotions but her own.

Where am I? Summer asked herself. In Hell, Summer told herself.

How did we get here? Summer asked herself. Because of me. I did this. I am the cause of all of the bad and wrong and hate and anger and terrible things in the world that exist today and everything is cause of me, stupid old hateful me and I deserve to die. I deserve to die. I deserve to die...

She saw the long, twisting staircase that led down, down, down beside the elevator. She peered over the side of the banister and wondered. She thought. Summer had an idea. She would jump over the banister and plunge to her death several stories below.

But then she heard Seth say, "Are you alright, Summer?"

And his voice was heavenly and sweet and perfect and just for a moment she felt wonderful and powerful and knew that she could go on living.

She would live for Seth.

Because Seth lived for her.

**Meanwhile**

Kaitlyn sat on the bed, staring outside, wondering why someone would have killed her sister. She didn't understand, couldn't understand, didn't know why, how, and doubted that she ever would understands. Kaitlyn sat there,watching the wind blowing the leaves in the trees outside her window. She listened downstairs as her mother watched the soap operas, crying. Of course, Kaitlyn knew that she wasn't really watching the soap operas. She was trying to, trying to get her mind off of the death of her daughter, Marissa. But Kaitlyn doubted that would happen anytime soon. She heard the doorbell ring downstairs, and began to wonder who it would be. Kaitlyn didn't really care, she needed someone to talk to, someone to confess to. So she got up off of the bed and began to make her way across the room. She descended down the stairs towards the foyer, and then found that there was a tall, slender figure awaiting her. Opening the door, Kaitlyn saw a farmiliar face, but she wasn't sure who the girl was. "Hello," said the woman.

"Hi..."

"My name is Keegan...is your father home? Jimmy Cooper?" Keegan poked her head inside, glancing around.

"Yes, he's in his bedroom right now. Is it important?"

Keegan stood there for a while, as if thinking. Then, finally, she said, "Yes. Very."

Kaitlyn then stepped aside and let Keegan enter the house. She turned and slowly closed the door behind her.

**While at the Cohen Residence**

Ryan lay on the bed in the pool house thinking about his plans. He knew that he had to kill Oliver, and he had basically targeted where Oliver was staying at the moment. He knew that Oliver had to be somewhere between North Carolina and Virginia. In another day or so, he would be going farther north, towards New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Maine. Soon Ryan would never be able to catch him.

Ryan had his bags packed. He had a plane ticket to North Carolina and a rental car waiting on him once he got there. Ryan also had the anger and rage to find Oliver and kill him. But Ryan needed permission. He knew this. Not from law, or from God, but from someone else. He just couldn't figure out who. But there was a deep knotting in his stomach telling him wait, wait, wait.

And then, while waiting, Ryan slowly drifted off to sleep.

The doorbell rang at the Cohen's house sometime later, while Ryan was still asleep. Kirstin hurried to the door to get it, and was shocked at who she saw. Her mouth dropped open in awe and she just stood there, looking into the eyes of her son who she hadn't seen for weeks.She immediately bent down and kissed him, hugging him to her body. She wept for joy and then thanked God that her son was home.

While Kirstin and Seth celebrated their joyous reunion, Ryan was experiencing much deeper things. He sat amongst tall balls of fire, when he heard the voice of Sandy ring out from above. "Ryan!" Sandy called. "Ryan!"

Ryan glanced up and saw his adopted father standing high up within the clouds. "Yes, Sandy?"

"Don't do it!"

"Do what?"

"Hunt after Oliver! You mustn't try and kill him! At least not yet!" Sandy glanced down, his face loving and serene.

"But why?"

Slowly Sandy began to fade off, dissapearing in the clouds.

Ryan called after him.

But in the end, Sandy was gone.

Ryan woke, presperation pouring down him, covered in fear. He looked over at the night stand and saw that it was only two in the afternoon. Sandy's words echoed in his ears, haunting him. Ryan sat there, wondering what to do. He then fell back onto the bed, motionless, his eyes wide open. That was when the pool house door opened and Seth entered the room. "Hey," said Seth, rolling in on his wheelchair. "Hey Ryan... Are you okay?" Damn. Seth didn't mean to ask that. He knew that Ryan wasn't okay. "I know you aren't," added Seth. Damn. He hadn't meant to say that either. So Seth finally just said, "I'm here for you, and I know how you feel," and then Seth shut up.

**Back at the Cooper Home**

Keegan stood in the doorway beside Kaitlyn, waiting patiently. Jimmy stood, his eyes enveloped by large, black cicles. His eyes were wide and red from days of insomnia. His mouth was small and pulled in, as if he had bitten them off. His cheeks were pale and his hair was grey. Keegan gasped at this sight, thinking, "Oh no. Is this my real dad?" Kaitlyn glanced over to Keegan reassuringly and then turned to Jimmy, wrapping her arms around her father.

Keegan and Kaitlyn where sisters.

Yet neither of them knew it.

Kaitlyn smiled and then hurried out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

"Hi," said Keegan nervously. "I'm Keegan." She extended a hand unsuredly. She paused, then brought it back to her.

"What do you want?" growled Jimmy. Obviously he was not in the mood for small talk. "Is this about Marissa? Have you found her killer?"

"I'm not from the police," said Keegan softly. "Actually, I am your daughter."

Jimmy stood there in awe. "What? But how?"

Keegan shook her head. "That's what I would like to know."

**The Cohen Residence**

Ryan embraced Seth, tears streaming down both of their faces. "I've missed you," cried Ryan. "And I miss her. I miss Marissa so much." He broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I know," said Seth. "I know."

Ryan was one the ground, kneeling beside Seth's wheelchair, his arms wrapped around Seth's body. "What will I do without her?"

Seth just sat there, unknowingly.

**Meanwhile**

Summer stood in the kitchen helping Kirstin clean dishes. "So," said Summer. "Was the funeral nice? No, not nice...I mean, fitting? Fitting for Marissa? Was it..was it...I don't know how to say..."

"Yes," said Kirstin in a low tone. "The sermon was very nice and the music was very emotional. There was a lot of people that showed up."

"I hate that I couldn't have been there." Summer had laid in her hospital bed for the previous two weeks and cried. "I really miss her."

"We wish you two had been there. But I guess we cannot blame you..." Kirstin stuck a premade lasanga in the oven, "...after all, it was Seth's choice...or at least _they _choose not to blame you. I on the other hand," said Kirstin, turning the heating knob, "would very much like for you to burn in Hell."

"What?" Summer was shocked.

Kirstin spun around, rage aflame in her eyes. "How dare you come back to this house?"

"What did I do?"

"Because of you, my son has no future!" Kirstin stomped forward towards Summer. "Because of you, my son will never be able to use his legs again. Because of your stupid affairs, my son is now forced to live in a wheelchair for the rest of his life!"

Tears began to stream down Summer's cheeks. "I know that all of this is my fault, but I am sorry. I am truly sorry."

"I don't care that you're sorry!" screamed Kirstin. "I don't care. Sorry doesn't fix anything! It never does!" She grabbed a large flower vase and threw it across the room. It smashed against the wall.

Summer turned and ran off, hurrying towards the front door.

Kirstin fell into a chair at the dining room table sobbing. What had she just done?

Summer ran outside, sobbing, hurrying down to the street corner and stumbling over the curb. She stood in the middle of the street crying, then turned and hurried off towards her car, pulling the door open, and climbing inside.

Once inside, she revved the engine, backed out of the driveway, and then took off.

**Next week: **

**We find out more about Keegan**

**Will Summer and Seth go together?**

**What about Luke and Anna?**

**Kaitlyn and Reichen? or Zach?**

**Will Ryan seek revenge for Marissa?**

**Will Kirstin and Jimmy accept Keegan into their lives?**

**Read to find out!**


	11. Flashback: Babies and Decisions

Chapter Eleven

**Twenty-Six Years Before**

"Jimmy," moaned Kirstin as she kissed him passionately and shoved him back onto the couch. She quickly began to unbutton her blouse and slide it down the side of her body. It fell to the ground, revealing her plump, lucious breasts. Jimmy handled one of her breasts in the palm of his hands, letting his velvety tongue encircle it, go round and round, feeling Kirstin with a sense of pleasure.She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him swallow her nipple deeper and deeper, the tip becoming hotter and harder, Kirstin moaning with excitement. "Jimmy," she moaned, quickly bending downwards to unbutton his shirt. She did it slowly, with care, kissing his chest as she sank lower and lower to his already hard erection. "Jimmy, I love you." She kissed belly button and then slowly began to unzip his jeans. His erection was hard against her body, and slowly, quickly, he began to grind against her. The friction was irritating, passionate, Kirstin could barely hold it in. She kissed him harder, reaching down to move his boxers away so that he could enter her. She quickly let him help her pull off her skirt, followed by her panties. He pushed her over onto the couch so that he could climb atop of her in one passionate, swift movement. Then they lay there like that for a few moments, kissing, before Jimmy began to enter her with a quick, passionate flame that burst as they climaxed, Kirstin moaning his name, Jimmy crying out for her, wanting to get closer to her, wanting to feel her, to hold her, to have her, to be further inside of her even though they were as close now as humanly possible.

"What would Sandy say about this?" Jimmy asked, a large smile on his face. He held her close to his body, her face resting on the hair of his chest.

"I don't want to think about him right now," sighed Kirstin, kissing a nipple on Jimmy's chest. "All I want is you."

"Stop dating him. Marry me." Jimmy tilted her face up by cupping his hand under her chin.

"I love him, though," said Kirstin softly.

"What about this? If you love him, why are you with me?"

Kirstin lay there for a moment in thought. Finally, she said, "Because I love you, too."

**A Week Later**

Kirstin sat across from Jimmy at the coffee house, wondering how to say it. She didn't want it to sound so abrupt. She didn't want him to have a heart attack and fall on the floor moaning and groaning and ready to die. So she just sat there for a few seconds, thinking. Finally, she began to speak. "Is it evil to have a baby out of wedlock? I know that the bible says that you can't, but I have been thinking about this: if I did, would I go to Hell? I mean, I can be forgiven, right? Or is this one of those sins that is like unforgivable or whatever?"

Jimmy shook his head and laughed. "Why are we talking about having babies out of wedlock, Kirstin?" That was when it suddenly hit him. That quick impacted rush, the wave of realization. "Oh my God...you're pregnant aren't you?"

Kirstin lowered her head, stirring in some sugar with her coffee. "Yes...I'm sorry."

"What should we do...oh God...my life is over..."

Kirstin's head jerked up and her eyes met with Jimmy. "What are you talking about? Just because we're having a baby your life is over? What about my life, Jimmy? You can leave me, run off, go anywhere. I will be stuck here for at least nine months with this baby, this thing, this sovegnier that you left me with. How do you think that makes me feel, huh? How do you think that will help my life? Will that help my social standing? Huh? Huh?"

"Calm down, Kirstin. There are several options."

"Like what? What am I going to do? Fall down a flight of stairs in order to have a miscarraige and hope I don't break my neck?"

"No, Kirstin." Jimmy paused for a second. "I'm talking about abortion."

"How dare you talk about abortion! About killing a harmless baby--"

"You were talking about having a miscarraige for god's sake!"

"I was being _sarcastic_."

They both sat there, glaring at each other, thinking what to do.

"Is it too late to have an abortion?" asked Jimmy.

"How should I know? Do you think that I've been plundering about this for the past week? Wondering, 'Is it too late to have an abortion?' Dear God, Jimmy. I am not as cold-hearted as you are."

"Don't call me cold hearted!"

"You are you son of a bitch! You want to take a fucking human life!"

"Well maybe you should have thought about all of this before you threw yourself at me!"

In rage, Kirstin stood and threw the chair over. It smashed on the ground, breaking off a leg. She stormed out of the coffee place, leaving Jimmy sitting at the table in awe.

**Two Months Later**

Jimmy sat outside the waiting room, thinking about his life. It was over if he had to keep this baby. Over. Kirstin was inside the office talking with the doctor and the adoptive couple. He prayed that these people would want this baby. He prayed with all of his heart and soul and mind and body and thought that if he could get out of this he would thank God everyday and pray every morning and every night and at every meal and at every hour of every fucking day.

That was when the door opened.

The couple hurried outside of the office and down the hall.

And Kirstin came out with a sad look on her face. A look of dread and terror and remorse and hate and fear and anger and solitude and heartbrokeness.

Oh no, thought Jimmy. They don't want the baby. They don't want the baby.

"What happened?" asked Jimmy.

"They're adopting her." Kirstin sat down beside him, staring off into nothingness.

"Her?"

"Yes," said Kirstin, still not looking at him or showing an ounce of emotion. "Our baby is a girl."


	12. Telling All Escape Attempt

Chapter Twelve

Ryan sat at his beside, thinking. A gun lay on the bedside table, loaded, ready to kill. Three jack knives lay there also. There was also a cellular phone and several boxes of bullets laying beside them. On the floor Ryan had a duffel bag with enough clothes to last him a week, and a plane ticket to North Carolina. He knew that, by now, Oliver was somewhere in that area. He found out from a private investigator that he had hired that Oliver had recently purchased a log cabin in the mountains. That's where he was staying. Ryan knew it. He just knew it.

The police refused to search the log cabin, or even question Oliver for that matter. They said that they had no rightful cause to do so. Marissa was dead and this man, this psychopath, was responsible.

"You were beaten badly," Officer McGonnal said. "You could have seen anyone."

Ryan was convinced it was Oliver. He knew it was Oliver. Oliver was the one who had killed his mother six years ago. He had killed Marissa four months ago. And now had to seek vengence--no, he had to seek justice.

**Somewhere in North Carolina**

Marissa stood there, tired. Her legs were limp and she was slumped against the wall, barely able to move. She moaned in pain, praying that Ryan would walk through the doors into the basement and save her, free her of these chains, and take her away and love her and care for her and never let Oliver have her again.

But Ryan was hundreds of miles away and Marissa was stuck here--nowhere.

And so she just let herself lie there against the wall, limp, unable to move. She lie there, deadlike, wanting to be freed but unable to. Wanting to run away but not finding the energy to do so. But that was when she heard a farmiliar creaking sound. The door to the basement was slowly opening. She heard a clatter and a loud band, then the sound of someone descending down the stairs towards her. It was Oliver, carrying a tray piled high with foods and drink, and a large syringe with a thick, long needle that seemed to stretch for eternity.

"No," she moaned.

Oliver took the syringe and began to ready her arm.

"Please," she moaned.

He slowly injected the syringe in her arm as she cried out in pain. Then the pain was gone. The only thing left was numbness. She fell still, wide awake yet unable to move. That was when he slowly began to unlock her chains. Once he had freed her, he carried her over to his bed that lay on the other side of the room, which Marissa thought of as the torture bed. That was where he made love to her, everytime he felt like it. She was unable to move or scream, only to lie there while he ravaged her and made "love" to her.

Oliver lay her on the bed, then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten a condom. "Don't want you getting pregnant out here in the wilderness," laughed Oliver. "Not that we won't have children Marissa. For we will. But in time. All in good time."

Marissa lay there, only a little bit of feeling left in her. That was when she saw that there was a butter knife lying on the tray nearby that Oliver used to cut up the food he and she would eat after they made love. Not that Marissa had much of an appetite after those incidents when Oliver ravaged her and made her feel horrible and disgusted.

She knew that she had to escape.

Marissa had to get out of here.

She had to return to Ryan.

**Back in the O.C.**

Ryan grabbed his two duffle bags and began to walk towards the door that led outside to the pool area when he heard a knock. He pulled open the door and saw that it was some strange woman who he had never seen before--wait, yes he had. It seemed to come back to him. The funeral. Who was she?

"Hi," she said. "No one answered the door and...is Kirstin here? At the house?"

"Oh, no...she went to the grocery store--you just missed her."

"Oh, okay." The girl, tall with long blonde hair turned to leave. That was when Ryan grabbed her arm, as if to stop her.

"I was about to leave--but since you came, why don't you just wait with me. I need to say goodbye to Kirstin anyway."

"Oh, that's okay but--"

"I insist." Ryan looked deep into her eyes. "Come inside. Have a cup of coffee."

Ryan needed some cheering up, he felt. Some one to try and convince him not to do what he knew in his heart that he had to do. He wanted to kill Oliver, but he knew that he shouldn't. Marissa wouldn't want that. Marissa wouldn't--

"Okay," said the girl.

Ryan walked her into the kitchen, where he grabbed the coffee pot and immidiately began to make coffee.

"I was sorry to hear about your girlfriend..." Keegan paused. "Ryan, right? So, how are you doing?"

"A lot better. I've almost gotten over it--no, that's not right. I'll never be over it, it's just...I don't know how to say this."

"You've learned to deal?" Keegan smiled.

"Yeah." Ryan smiled. He poured her a cup of coffee. "I get that you've had to deal with this before?"

"Yeah. My mom. She died six years ago."

Ryan was shocked. "My mom died six years ago too."

"Wow," said Keegan, beginning to stir the coffee in her cup. She brushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear.

The continued to talk about their loved ones, their families, and their losses. Before their conversations had finished, they had shared nearly everything about them. Except for the part with Keegan being the daughter of Jimmy and Kirstin. She kept that to herself. She didn't want anyone else to know, when she herself had just begun to learn about the situation in a whole.

She smiled and stood up. "Well, I've got to go."

"Aren't you going to wait until Kirstin returns? She'll be back in a bit."

"No, I had better go...but listen...I really enjoyed talking to you, and I was thinking...would you like to, I don't know, talk over dinner some time?"

Ryan smiled. "I'll be out of town for a few days, but maybe Saturday?"

"Saturday..."

"Over dinner?"

"Sure..." Keegan smiled. "I'm staying at the Mermaid Inn...pick me up at 7?"

"Yeah." Ryan watched as she began to walk out to the driveway. "Bye!" he called.

She turned, smiled, and waved. "Bye!"

She climbed into her car, revved the engine, and began to back out of the driveway. That was when he began to grab his bags and carry them to the front door. He had to wait until Kirstin got home with Seth. They were searching for Summer. Ryan told Keegan that they were at the grocery store because he didn't want to expose all of Kirstin's private life. Apparently Kirstin had made a big mistake and Summer had taken off in fear for what she had done to Seth. Not that she was afraid of Kirstin.

No.

Summer was upset because she was convinced that she had ruined Seth's life.

**North Carolina**

Marissa dragged herself across the room towards the plate where the knife lay. She reached upwards weakly and grasped for it, feeling for it, and finally found it. It fell to the floor and then she picked it up and began to drag herself back across the room. She lay the knife on the nightstand and then pulled herself up onto the bed and lay there, pulling the covers back up over her body so that it appeared that she hadn't moved whatsoever. She waited until she heard Oliver and saw him coming down the stairs towards her. He sighed and began to undress himself, revealing his toned body. She sighed, watching, and thought that if he wasn't so psychotic and evil she might actually date him (if she weren't with Ryan in the first place).

He fit the condom on himself and then climbed into bed, ready to perform. Marissa slid the knife under the covers, ready to attack. That was when he began to snuggle up beside her and kiss her neck.

Big mistake, Oliver.

She stabbed him in the chest, watched as he moaned in pain and then came to a lifeless end lying beside her motionless, unable to move, unable to breathe, and finally he passed from this world to the next.

Marissa lay there, unable to move herself until the medicine wore off.

**Next Week:**

**Ryan's got a date**

**Keegan is more than you thought**

**Will Marissa find her way home before its too late?**

**Are Seth and Summer over?**

**What about Reichen and Kaitlyn?**

**Read to find out**


	13. Knife to the Heart

Chapter Twelve

Ryan sat at his beside, thinking. A gun lay on the bedside table, loaded, ready to kill. Three jack knives lay there also. There was also a cellular phone and several boxes of bullets laying beside them. On the floor Ryan had a duffel bag with enough clothes to last him a week, and a plane ticket to North Carolina. He knew that, by now, Oliver was somewhere in that area. He found out from a private investigator that he had hired that Oliver had recently purchased a log cabin in the mountains. That's where he was staying. Ryan knew it. He just knew it.

The police refused to search the log cabin, or even question Oliver for that matter. They said that they had no rightful cause to do so. Marissa was dead and this man, this psychopath, was responsible.

"You were beaten badly," Officer McGonnal said. "You could have seen anyone."

Ryan was convinced it was Oliver. He knew it was Oliver. Oliver was the one who had killed his mother six years ago. He had killed Marissa four months ago. And now had to seek vengence--no, he had to seek justice.

**Somewhere in North Carolina**

Marissa stood there, tired. Her legs were limp and she was slumped against the wall, barely able to move. She moaned in pain, praying that Ryan would walk through the doors into the basement and save her, free her of these chains, and take her away and love her and care for her and never let Oliver have her again.

But Ryan was hundreds of miles away and Marissa was stuck here--nowhere.

And so she just let herself lie there against the wall, limp, unable to move. She lie there, deadlike, wanting to be freed but unable to. Wanting to run away but not finding the energy to do so. But that was when she heard a farmiliar creaking sound. The door to the basement was slowly opening. She heard a clatter and a loud band, then the sound of someone descending down the stairs towards her. It was Oliver, carrying a tray piled high with foods and drink, and a large syringe with a thick, long needle that seemed to stretch for eternity.

"No," she moaned.

Oliver took the syringe and began to ready her arm.

"Please," she moaned.

He slowly injected the syringe in her arm as she cried out in pain. Then the pain was gone. The only thing left was numbness. She fell still, wide awake yet unable to move. That was when he slowly began to unlock her chains. Once he had freed her, he carried her over to his bed that lay on the other side of the room, which Marissa thought of as the torture bed. That was where he made love to her, everytime he felt like it. She was unable to move or scream, only to lie there while he ravaged her and made "love" to her.

Oliver lay her on the bed, then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten a condom. "Don't want you getting pregnant out here in the wilderness," laughed Oliver. "Not that we won't have children Marissa. For we will. But in time. All in good time."

Marissa lay there, only a little bit of feeling left in her. That was when she saw that there was a butter knife lying on the tray nearby that Oliver used to cut up the food he and she would eat after they made love. Not that Marissa had much of an appetite after those incidents when Oliver ravaged her and made her feel horrible and disgusted.

She knew that she had to escape.

Marissa had to get out of here.

She had to return to Ryan.

**Back in the O.C.**

Ryan grabbed his two duffle bags and began to walk towards the door that led outside to the pool area when he heard a knock. He pulled open the door and saw that it was some strange woman who he had never seen before--wait, yes he had. It seemed to come back to him. The funeral. Who was she?

"Hi," she said. "No one answered the door and...is Kirstin here? At the house?"

"Oh, no...she went to the grocery store--you just missed her."

"Oh, okay." The girl, tall with long blonde hair turned to leave. That was when Ryan grabbed her arm, as if to stop her.

"I was about to leave--but since you came, why don't you just wait with me. I need to say goodbye to Kirstin anyway."

"Oh, that's okay but--"

"I insist." Ryan looked deep into her eyes. "Come inside. Have a cup of coffee."

Ryan needed some cheering up, he felt. Some one to try and convince him not to do what he knew in his heart that he had to do. He wanted to kill Oliver, but he knew that he shouldn't. Marissa wouldn't want that. Marissa wouldn't--

"Okay," said the girl.

Ryan walked her into the kitchen, where he grabbed the coffee pot and immidiately began to make coffee.

"I was sorry to hear about your girlfriend..." Keegan paused. "Ryan, right? So, how are you doing?"

"A lot better. I've almost gotten over it--no, that's not right. I'll never be over it, it's just...I don't know how to say this."

"You've learned to deal?" Keegan smiled.

"Yeah." Ryan smiled. He poured her a cup of coffee. "I get that you've had to deal with this before?"

"Yeah. My mom. She died six years ago."

Ryan was shocked. "My mom died six years ago too."

"Wow," said Keegan, beginning to stir the coffee in her cup. She brushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear.

The continued to talk about their loved ones, their families, and their losses. Before their conversations had finished, they had shared nearly everything about them. Except for the part with Keegan being the daughter of Jimmy and Kirstin. She kept that to herself. She didn't want anyone else to know, when she herself had just begun to learn about the situation in a whole.

She smiled and stood up. "Well, I've got to go."

"Aren't you going to wait until Kirstin returns? She'll be back in a bit."

"No, I had better go...but listen...I really enjoyed talking to you, and I was thinking...would you like to, I don't know, talk over dinner some time?"

Ryan smiled. "I'll be out of town for a few days, but maybe Saturday?"

"Saturday..."

"Over dinner?"

"Sure..." Keegan smiled. "I'm staying at the Mermaid Inn...pick me up at 7?"

"Yeah." Ryan watched as she began to walk out to the driveway. "Bye!" he called.

She turned, smiled, and waved. "Bye!"

She climbed into her car, revved the engine, and began to back out of the driveway. That was when he began to grab his bags and carry them to the front door. He had to wait until Kirstin got home with Seth. They were searching for Summer. Ryan told Keegan that they were at the grocery store because he didn't want to expose all of Kirstin's private life. Apparently Kirstin had made a big mistake and Summer had taken off in fear for what she had done to Seth. Not that she was afraid of Kirstin.

No.

Summer was upset because she was convinced that she had ruined Seth's life.

**North Carolina**

Marissa dragged herself across the room towards the plate where the knife lay. She reached upwards weakly and grasped for it, feeling for it, and finally found it. It fell to the floor and then she picked it up and began to drag herself back across the room. She lay the knife on the nightstand and then pulled herself up onto the bed and lay there, pulling the covers back up over her body so that it appeared that she hadn't moved whatsoever. She waited until she heard Oliver and saw him coming down the stairs towards her. He sighed and began to undress himself, revealing his toned body. She sighed, watching, and thought that if he wasn't so psychotic and evil she might actually date him (if she weren't with Ryan in the first place).

He fit the condom on himself and then climbed into bed, ready to perform. Marissa slid the knife under the covers, ready to attack. That was when he began to snuggle up beside her and kiss her neck.

Big mistake, Oliver.

She stabbed him in the chest, watched as he moaned in pain and then came to a lifeless end lying beside her motionless, unable to move, unable to breathe, and finally he passed from this world to the next.

Marissa lay there, unable to move herself until the medicine wore off.

**Next Week:**

**Ryan's got a date**

**Keegan is more than you thought**

**Will Marissa find her way home before its too late?**

**Are Seth and Summer over?**

**What about Reichen and Kaitlyn?**

**Read to find out**


	14. Explosive

Chapter Fourteen

Marissa climbed the steps towards the kitchen where she saw the cabin for the first time. It was large and beautiful, modern and extravagant. She would have enjoyed it here if it hadn't been used as a torture chamber for her. She ran her hand along the table top, admiring it for a moment, lost in transition from captivity to freedom. That was when Marissa came to. She grabbed a cordless phone and immidiately began to dial out. But that was when she realized she didn't know to whom she was dialing. And then she listened for the dial tone, but yet there was none. Damn. Marissa turned and began to make her way across the room. She saw that Oliver had a fire burning in the fire place, and it felt warm. She grabbed one of his coats, seeing that it was snowing outside and that they were in the middle of the mountains. In the middle of winter. Marissa sighed. There was probably no one for miles. But Oliver had a car, right? He had to have gotten here somehow, and she could use the vehicle and drive as far away as possible.

She found his car keys and walked outside, searching for the vehicle that she could use to escape. She began to descend down the stairs that led from the cabin's porch to the muddy ground outside. Marissa glanced around, her hair blowing in the wind. She felt cold and shivered in the frosty night air. It was hard to see and her chest hurt when she breathed.

That was when she heard the cabin door swing open behind her. Marissa spun around and saw Oliver limping towards her, his mouth ajar, covered with blood and sweat. "Oh my God!" screamed Marissa. She turned and ran as fast as she could, but didn't no towards what she was running. She came upon a Jeep which she automatically assumed was Oliver's. She slipped the key into the driver's side, climbed in, and pulled the door closed behind her.

She sat there for a moment, shaking, trying to fit the key into the ignition.

That was when Oliver slammed his body against the car. It tilted but stayed standing. He slammed his body against it again. He was trying to flip her. Marissa screamed as the Jeep tilted over, but then balanced itself, and fell back into standing position once more. He readied to slam his body into it once more when suddenly the Jeep roared to life. Marissa screamed and floored the gas, sending the car flying forward.

Only, she hadn't paid attention to what was in front of her.

There was a large tree standing in her way, and it broke her path. Marissa screamed louder still as the car collided with the tree, then flipped on its side and began to slide down the side of the hill. Marissa when to cover her head as the car slid. But then her head slammed into the steering wheel, and she became dizzy. Finally, at the bottom of the hill, she came to a haulting stop.

Marissa quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and began to pull herself out of the car through one of the busted windows. She managed to pull herself up and out of the car, then fell onto the ground, dizzy, sick, tired. That was when she looked up and saw Oliver walking down the hill towards her. She screamed in fright and tried to crawl away but couldn't. "No!" she screamed when she saw him coming towards her.

That was when-----

_**BOOM!**_

Marissa screamed as she was thrown back several feet by the explosion. Oliver was engulfed by flames as the whole house was destroyed. Marissa fell against a tree where she lay for a few hours, trying to build up her energy. Finally summoning the will and courage, she picked herself up and began to limp towards the steep incline that was the hill. She had to climb all the way to the top, and then make her way down the road. She climbed steadily for the next hour, grasping onto weeds and tree roots and large clumps of dirt and jagged edges of boulders. Once she finally reached the top, she rested for a few moments, then began to make her way down the road. Finally, she reached a main highway and waited, her thumb out, praying that someone would pick her up. Someone, anyone.

**Newport, California**

Summer stood in line, her plane ticket in her hand. She sighed, waiting for the old man before her to stop haggling with the flight attendant. She began to tap her foot impatiently when she saw the doors to her left open and Seth come rushing in. His mother, Kirstin, stood outside waiting. He rolled in on his wheelchair, rushing, his muscles pumping as he quickly spun the wheels. Tears filled her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away when he came closer to her.

"Summer," he called. "Where are you going, why are you leaving?" He sat in his wheelchair beside her, looking up into her eyes.

"I made this--I did this to you, Seth. I can't possibly stay with you, be even more trouble and make you live with me every day...I can't--"

"Don't you realize? If you left, that would be the worst thing for me." Seth glanced up into her eyes. "Please, Summer, come home."

The flight attendent called for Summer. "Miss? We're boarding now."

Summer shook her head. "I'm sorry. I need to go."

Summer turned and began to walk away.

"Summer, wait!" Seth called after her. "I can walk! If you stay, I'll walk! I promise you!" He quickly began to lift himself out of the wheelchair, desperately trying to gain control of his legs.

"No, Seth!" cried Summer.

He fell out of the chair, weak and helpless. He desperately tried to pick himself up but couldn't.

Summer and the flight attendent ran towards him.

"Why are you doing this, Seth?" cried Summer, wrapping her arms around him, trying to lift him up into the chair.

"Because," said Seth. "I love you, Summer Roberts." That was when he pulled something out of his pocket. Summer gasped when she saw what it was.

A case.

A velvety case.

A case that held--

He popped it open.

A diamond ring.

**Meanwhile**

Ryan had waited for Kirstin, but yet she hadn't come. He couldn't wait any longer. He grabbed his duffel bags and began to walk out of the door when the phone rang. Damn. He turned and picked up the phone. "Hello?" he said.

"Is Mr. Ryan Atwood there?" asked a man on the other end of the line.

"Yes. This is he."

"Mr. Atwood. I am Sheriff Alreed of the Yansee Police Department here in North Carolina. I wanted to inform you that we have found the body of one Oliver Trask today in his log cabin home--or lack thereof. He was a suspect in your wife's murder case, yes?"

Ryan swallowed hard. "It wasn't my wife. Is he dead?"

"Yes sir."

"Are you sure it's him?"

The sheriff assured him once more that the body was Oliver Trask's.

Ryan sighed and said, "Thank you." Then he hung up the phone.

Ryan turned and took his duffel bags back to the pool house. He began to unpack. Ryan knew that he had to move on. Marissa was dead, and now, so was Oliver. There was nothing more for Ryan to do with it. He sighed, putting his clothes back in the drawer. He had to move on. Had to.

So that was when Ryan picked up the phone and dialed Keegan's room at the Mermaid Inn. "About that date," he said. "I'm going to be home after all...How do you feel about tonight?"


	15. Accept the Change

Chapter Fifteen

Luke thought of Anna every day. But now she was gone. She had left him because of what she had thought she had seen. Yes, she had seen Luke kissing another woman. Well, not really. Luke wasn't doing much of the kissing. It was the other woman. Molly. She had forced herself on him, forced herself on Luke when he had been so very in love with Anna. And then Anna had left. Anna had returned to Pittsburg. And now, thinking about it, Luke had decided that that was where Anna needed to be. That was where she felt that she belonged. She had a boyfriend back there, she had a family, she had a life. She didn't belong in the O.C. And neither did he.

Luke had thought about leaving and going back to Portland. Several times he had pushed those thoughts away. Over the past few months he had become reacquainted with the place that he had left so many years ago. The beaches, the people, the places. And he was starting to like it again. People had gotten over the old drama from so many years ago. They had moved on.

Now Luke was ready for a new start. Did he want to stay in Newport? He hadn't decided yet. He didn't know. He couldn't be sure.

Luke had gotten a job as a Cable guy. He would repair the digital cable boxes and fix televisions and all of that stuff. He made okay money, and he would go back to college soon and get a real job. He wasn't staying at the Mermaid Inn anymore--he bought himself a condo on the beach.

Yes, Luke was living the life. A wonderful, magnificent life. He would work, then surf when he wasn't working, or hook up with babes. It was his ideal life, his ideal world.

One day, he had gotten a call from the Cooper residence saying that they needed for their cable to be fixed. It had been four months since Marissa had been murdered, and he was a little wary about going there, about confronting so many memories with Marissa. He had once loved Marissa and, in a way, he still did.

He rang the doorbell and waited. Finally, Julie came to the door. "Hello, Luke," she said.

Flashback. The Mermaid Motel. Seven years ago. Julie and Luke's passionate affair. Luke remembered it so well.

He walked inside and asked where the television was. She showed him into the family room and he immidiately began to work. Julie stayed there, the two beginning to engage in small talk. Finally Julie asked if he would like something to drink. He nodded, "Yes." Julie hurried off into the kitchen, ready to make him a glass of iced tea.

While she had gone, Luke finished his job. He sighed, wiping the presperation from his forehead. He picked up his equipment and then walked into the kitchen looking for Julie. She was sitting at the table, crying softly. He hurried to her side to comfort her. "It will be okay," he said softly.

Julie looked up into his eyes, and, for a moment, they were at an understanding. And for a moment, they were in perfection. And for a moment, it would be okay. And in that moment, Julie leaned towards Luke and kissed him softly on the lips. Luke leaned in and kissed her back. Just like old times. Julie wrapped her arms around him and kissed him harder, pushing into him, letting her body rub up against his, the friction terribly hard and hot as they rubbed their bodies together, the heat combusting and igniting and turning to fire in a great explosion of passion. Julie moaned as Luke lifted her body and rolled her onto the table, unbuttoning her blouse and kissing her chest, letting his tongue stroke down towards her skirt. He freed her of the skirt within a few moments, and stood there, amazed at her ageless body. She quickly unsnapped her bra and released her large, succulent breasts so that Luke could please himself.

They made love on the table, then made their way to Julie's large bedroom, where they made love once again. Afterwards, they showered together, and Julie prepared dinner for the both of them. Luke had to sneak away when Julie warned him that Jimmy was to be home within a few minutes. So they departed, two lovers, passionate about each other.

And, now Luke was sure, he would definately not be leaving Newport anytime soon.

**Meanwhile**

Ryan hurried up to the door of the motel room, knocking three times and waiting patiently for Keegan to answer. Finally, she came to the door, dressed gorgeously and lucious to the eyes. Ryan stood there watching her, mouth agape, stunned by her beauty. "Shall we go?" asked Keegan, smiling.

Ryan smiled back at her. She took his arm and he escorted her to the car, the two conversing the whole way.

**In the North Carolina Mountains**

Finally, someone stopped for Marissa. He was an old man of 60 who was balding and had a large beard that reached down and touched the tip of his chest. He looked like the old grandfatherly type who would sit with his children in a rocking chair and tell them stories of the good old days. Marissa smiled weakly at him, climbing into the car, and said, "Thank you." He nodded and she buckled up and pulled her door shut. The old man didn't realize that Marissa held a knife under her jacket. Just in case.

"So, where 'ya going?" he asked her.

Marissa shook her head. "I have no idea. I'm not from around here. Is there a police station nearby?"

"Yeah. About ten miles up the road. 'Ya want me ta' take ya' there?"

"Yes, please," said Marissa.

They drove in silence all of the way to the police station. Once there, Marissa thanked him, climbed out of the car, and made her way up to the station.

**The Airport**

Summer smiled, tears streaming down her cheeks. Seth Cohen was asking her to marry him. She stood there, awed, not realizing the truth and beauty of the situation, only thinking, "This can't be real. It can't."

And so she said that.

"But it is real," said Seth. "And I want you to be with me. Forever."

Summer smiled, tears streaming down her cheeks, and then embraced him. "I love you, Seth Cohen. And yes, I will marry you."

The two kissed.

Kirstin smiled watching from outside. She felt that what Kirstin had messed up was now fixed.

**Later**

Ryan walked Keegan back up to her motel door after dinner. They had a wonderful time conversing over wonderful food and wine. He was happy that he had met someone like Keegan. She could take away his sadness and pain and throw it into the Newport ocean. He really liked her, really enjoyed her company. Keegan opened her motel door and smiled back at Ryan. "Thank you for a wonderful night," she said finally.

Ryan nodded. "Thank you."

They stood there for a few moments in silence. Finally, Keegan leaned in and kissed Ryan on the lips. It was a long, lingering kiss that was romantic and sent off fireworks and everything. Ryan had never been kissed like this before except with--

Marissa.

But Ryan kissed her back and hard.

Then he pulled away. "Good night," he said.

Keegan smiled and walked into her room, shutting the door. "Good night."

**Has Ryan found himself a new love?**

**Will Seth and Summer be married?**

**What about Luke and Julie?**

**What will happen if Jimmy finds out?**

**Kaitlyn? What has happened with her?**

**Read to find out.**


	16. The Returning

Chapter Sixteen

**Sorry I haven't updated in such a long time… Well, I hope you can remember what's happened. If you can't, here's a brief update. Marissa was kidnapped by Oliver, and after managing to attack him with a _butter knife_, then _blowing him up_, she's pretty sure he's dead. Now she's on a mission to return home to Ryan, who, she is unaware, is now dating Keegan. It's a year later, and he's trying to get over Marissa, but it's hard. Seth and Summer have encountered problems of their own. Kirstin tried to break them up after Summer caused Seth to lose the use of his legs when he saved her from Candy, a homicidal woman who was in love with Yogi, Summer's photographer. Seth has the biggest surprise waiting for Summer… Luke, who was dating Anna (but then got caught cheating on her—sort of) has now rekindled his passionate affair with Julie Cooper. Kaitlyn Cooper is trying her best to survive high school, after having a fling with both ZACH and a boy named Reichen (who discovered she was still in love with Zach, who is supposedly an accused murderer).**

Marissa walked into the police station, her heart pounding furiously as she walked towards the front desk. She was about to report a kidnapping, a murder, and…oh dear God…Marissa was in so far above her head it was hard to even _breathe_.

"Sir?" Marissa said calmly, brushing a loose strand of hair back behind of ear in order to improve her ragged appearance. How long had she been held hostage? Days? Weeks? Months? Marissa had lost count long ago. She knew that Oliver had taken her all the way from…from California to _North Carolina_. That's all the way across the country. _Thousands of miles away…_Was Ryan still looking for her? He must be…Ryan would never give up on her, right? Ryan must be worried, ever so worried, so very worried, thinking the worst, he always thought the worst, and so many things were rushing through Marissa's head, and she couldn't breathe, and all she wanted to do was turn and say to the officer at the desk, "I've been kidnapped," but that seemed to blunt, and suddenly, there was Sandy—_Sandy was standing before her_…

"Sandy?" Marissa gasped, her lips parting, flabbergasted. "Is that you?"

Sandy smiled like he always did, that kind welcoming smile that seemed so familiar, the one that seemed so distant now, she hadn't seen it in so long…Sandy had been dead for so long…He _was _dead, wasn't he?

Was _Marissa _dead?

No, that couldn't be…Marissa couldn't be dead…She was standing here, before the police officer…

"Miss? Are you okay?"

Sandy evanesced into the air as quickly as he had come, like a summer reverie that she had only imagined… And yet he seemed so real; but yet, if she was to reach out to touch him, there would be nothing there, simply air, he was a mirage, something that she wanted to see, like water to a refugee in the Sahara.

Marissa suddenly began to sway from side to side dizzily, her head spinning with thoughts of Sandy and Oliver, and most of all Ryan, who she loved and missed and wanted so eagerly. The officer slowly got up from his seat behind the desk, hesitant at first, not sure as of what the girl's problem were…

Marissa's eyes rolled back up into her head as she fell to her side, her head slamming hard against the floor.

Ryan smiled and kissed Keegan softly on the lips. "You're so wonderful…"

Marissa lay on the floor, her eyes fluttering wildly…

Running his hands over Keegan's blouse, Ryan slowly began to unbutton the shirt. "Are you sure you want to…?"

The police officer darted around the counter towards Marissa.

"I've never felt this way about anyone before Ryan…"

Several onlookers gasped in shock.

Ryan didn't reply. He simply continued to undress Keegan.

"There's no pulse!"

"_Ryan_…"

"Call a paramedic…We need to get this girl to a hospital!"

Soft gentle moans, cries escaping from their throats and

"We're losing her!"

"Ryan…"

"Is she…?"

Ryan quickly broke away from Keegan, sitting on the edge off the bed, his heart beating furiously.

"Ryan?" said Keegan, growing concerned. "What's the matter?"

She placed a hand on his shoulder, wrapping a arm around his nude body. "Ryan, are you okay? What's the matter?"

Ryan couldn't breathe, couldn't speak—something inside of him was welling up, building up, breaking down, and exploding all at once and everything was so confusing. "It's…" Marissa. "Nothing…"

"Is it me?"

"No…"

"Then what happened…?" Keegan kissed his cheek, trying her best to comfort him. "I thought we were…You know… I thought…"

"It was…It was nice, it's just…maybe it's too soon."

"Too soon?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh…_Marissa_…It's about her isn't it?"

"Keegan…"

Keegan quickly began to scramble for the various articles of clothing she had shred in the lovemaking process, extremely embarrassed. "You're still in love with her."

"I can't help it, Keegan. It's not like we broke up or anything. She just…"

"_Died_, Ryan, I heard. I mean, I understand and all. But it's been almost a year. You were dating. And if you weren't over her, then why the _hell _did you get involved with me? Why the _hell _did you have to hurt me like this?"

"Keegan…I'm sorry…"

Keegan draped the shirt that Ryan had torn off her body only a few minutes before over her shoulders. "How could you, Ryan? I thought you were…I thought I loved you…"

Ryan lowered his head in shame, embarrassment. "I'm really sorry, Keegan."

"I know you are, Ryan…I know…But you need time to think this over…think about what you want from me, from us…"

Ryan glanced up at Keegan once more. "I do think I love you, though."

"You think?" Keegan scoffed at this remark. "I know… I _knew_…"

"Will you marry me, Summer Roberts?" Seth asked, laying sprawled out on the floor of the airport, the velvety ring case in his hand. "Please?"

Summer stood there before him, flabbergasted. "What?"

"Will you marry me?"

Summer knelt down so that she was at eye level beside him. Tears began to flow in a steady stream down her cheeks. "Yes…"

Seth leaned in and wrapped his arms around Summer, kissing her gently.

The doorbell rang. Kaitlyn walked down the stairs in the empty house, wondering where her parents were (they were always gone nowadays since Marissa's death…) and into the foyer. "Hello?" Kaitlyn said, opening the door slowly.

The door burst open immediately, and she was taken into a passionate embrace, her arms being lifted above her head, her shirt being pulled from her chest, revealing her large plump breasts which fell softly, bouncing against her chest. She didn't think, didn't care; she was taken up the staircase, wrapping her legs and arms around the man, kissing his neck and mouth, unbuttoning his shirt as fast as she possibly could.

"Please," she begged, wanting him to have her, take her.

His shirt came off quickly, revealing his muscular, toned chest. Kaitlyn kissed it passionately, making her way down to the belt buckle, fumbling with it blindly. "Please..." she moaned. "Just take me…Take me now…Take me…Please…Please…"

She unzipped his pants, and then he began to enter her with quick, passionate thrusts. Faster, faster, faster, harder, harder, harder, the two climaxing towards the ceiling.

He was suckling her breasts, she was moaning with passion as he entered her harder and harder and faster and faster.

"Zach…" she moaned.

"I love you," he replied.

**To be continued next week…**


	17. Raping Julie

**Note to reader: I have not updated in quite a while. And I am sorry to say that, unless I receive some conformation from my readers saying that I should continue, I will have to retire the season at episode 17. I don't know if anyone is still reading it, or anything. Well, anyways, here goes my plot outline for what has happened in the past season of the O.C. (season 7) in case you haven't been reading for a while.**

**PREVIOUSLY ON THE O.C. (SEASON 7)**

**-Sandy died in the beginning of the seventh season.**

**-The old group returns to Newport, Marissa now engaged, Ryan on a useless path nowhere, Seth in the movie business, and Summer having a successful modeling carreer.**

**-Ryan and Marissa are slowly rekindling their relationship.**

**-Seth discovers that Summer and Luke have been having an affair.**

**-Marissa leaves to return home to her fiancé, and Seth and Summer go to New York for one of Summer's fashion shoots.**

**-After being attacked by her photographer, Summer accidentally kills him.**

**-Summer escapes conviction and returns to the hotel with Seth, but Candi is waiting there in order to take the ultimate revenge.**

**-Marissa leaves her fiancé and returns to Ryan, who says he doesn't want her anymore.**

**-Kaitlyn is having an affair with Zach, but then he leaves. She begins to have a relationship with Reichen, a boy from her school.**

**-Luke, who is dating Anna, receives a visit from his ex, which causes Anna to grow angered at him and leave him.**

**-Ryan and Marissa have a fight, then a Marissa falls from the pier and almost dies.**

**-Marissa returns home after being hospitalized.**

**In a stunning conclusion, Seth begins to wrestle Candi away from Summer, and the two fall through a window and down to the tarmac several stories below. Marissa, who has just returned home with Ryan, is kidnapped by Oliver.**

**Now, let the story continue (for what could be the FINAL TIME):**

Chapter Seventeen-

She can hear them. She can see them. They are standing right before her, the people who have come and gone, and they are beckoning her to come forth. Come, Marissa. Be with us. We are lonely up here in this hellish afterlife, this place called "heaven." They say that, if they could chose, they would go to Hell. It seems more like Newport. Hot and steamy, filled with people who grin their evil grins and mock the other damned even though their all in the same metaphorical boat. There's several of them: her former stepfather, Caleb Nichols; her boyfriend's late brother, Trey Atwood; then she sees some old Jewish man and a woman beside him—she recognizes the woman as Rebecca, Sandy's sweetheart from long ago. She died too? And then there's Alex—Alex is standing there, half of her face missing, a big old grin swiped across it as she murmurs something like Hey Sweetie but Marissa can barely understand her from this far off. Marissa remembered hearing about Alex's death, her former lover who had died in a car accident several years before—but Marissa had never expected to see her again. Not here, wherever she was, surrounded by all of these strange people who are calling her name, Marissa, Marissa, never stopping, always wanting something, always being selfish and calling her, and Marissa was growing annoyed.

Marissa glanced around her, seeing nothing but purple: purple skies, purple ground—although really there is no ground. What is she walking on? It seems like nothing, just color. But then again, is it possible to walk on color?

There's nothing behind her, only those dead people ahead of her, calling, calling, calling: Marissa! Come with us! We're ready for you! It's time to go, sweetie! Marissa get up here now before I take that check back I gave to your father. Marissa, don't you love me? Don't you love me? And there's blood oozing down Alex's face as she speaks these words that seem so eery now—they would have always been eery. It was Alex, not anyone else. Marissa did not love Alex. Marissa loved—

"Marissa!" Finally, a solid voice, something breaking through the purple, calling her back to blankness. "Marissa, don't go!" Marissa turned from the blankness, her feet stirring clouds of dust and smoke, and said, Who's there? But she couldn't hear her voice, it was inaudible. Only her lips were moving. "I love you, Marissa!" Ryan called, stepping forward through the blankness and into the violet eternity. "There's so much I haven't told you," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. "So much I need to tell you but I can't."

Why can't you tell it to me? What are you dying to tell me? Why is it so important? And where am I going?

Ryan stared at Marissa, his eyes bulging from their sockets. "What? I can't hear you."

WHERE AM I GOING? WHAT DO YOU NEED TO TELL ME?

Ryan reached for her hand comfortingly. "I love you, Marissa. Come, come with me."

Ryan awoke, shaking. Where was he? Where was Marissa?

Dead.

She's dead.

She can't hear you.

She can't see you.

She can't speak to you.

Because she's dead.

Ryan glanced out of the door of the poolhouse, which was predominately made of windows. He saw that it was light outside, daytime. He should get up, get dressed. He needed to win Keegan back over. He had really hurt her—thinking of Marissa, not being able to make love to her. Keegan would probably never want to talk to him again.

Ryan grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt and quickly manuervered his way into these clothes. He grabbed the keys that lay on his dresser and scurried out of the poolhouse, leaving the door open behind him. His feet padded against the cement, making an annoying sound as it flopped angrily. The Range Rover was parked around front, new and shiny and black, a lot like the old one they had—six years ago.

Ryan was pained that the memories that he conjured up, all the thoughts of Seth and he, Marissa, the pool, dates, first love—pain, a strong, welling pain. He couldn't take it, the pain of memory that makes you realize that nothing will ever be the same, not matter how much you want it to be.

_Marissa's dead. _

Ryan stared at the Range Rover, trying to believe what he had just told himself. _Marissa's dead and you can't do anything about it and you'll never see heer again, so just grow up Ryan, just grow up and get a life and _move on.

Luke, Seth, Marissa, Ryan…

Anna, Summer, Alex, Lindsay….

Sandy, Kirstin, Zach, Kaitlin.

Where did everything go askew?

_A gunshot_.

"Trey! Stop! You're going to kill him!"

_POM!_

Death.

Death in the family. Death is always in the family. It always follows Ryan around, no matter where he goes. He can't ever escape it, he never will.

_Shh, Ryan. Just go to Keegan and_—

But what if there's hope? What if Marrissa is still alive? Ryan thought to himself, wandering back through the gate and towards the pool. His feet sank into the grass, making his way towards the stoney paved area around the Infinty. Ryan knelt over the pool, staring at his reflection. Nothing was there. Just a blank face, scars everywhere, his eyes misty and cool in the early morning hours.

_Go before it is too late_.

Ryan sighed to himself, sitting down on the pavement, his heart thumping madly, wanting to cry for Marissa, wanting to grieve her loss, but not having the nerve to do so.

Where had everything gone?

Kirstin kissed Carter softly. "I love you, you know that?"

Carter grinned and kissed her back. "I love you too. And, I was wondering if you would—wait. I have to do this right, don't I?" Carter dropped to one knee, glancing around him and smiling. He took a small velvet ring box out of his coat pocket and flipped it open. "Kirstin, will you marry me?"

Kirstin stared at him in shock. Carter had just proposed to her. She had no idea what to say. He had just _proposed _to her. Kirstin stammered, backing away a little. "Oh my god, Carter—the ring—it's beautiful—but…"

"But what?" Carter was concerned. He obviously saw the fear in Kirstin's eyes. Sandy. It was Sandy. She missed him so much1.

"It's just with all that the kids have gone through and all—I don't know if it's a good time for me to be getting married—I mean, it's _marriage_, Carter."

Carter nodded. "I understand. Here, I'll take you home. Let me get your coat." He stood, closing the velvet box and stuffing it back inside his jacket. Walking into the living room where she had laid her jacket upon entering Carter's home, Carter bowed his head as if in mourning.

Kirstin wanted to call after him, yell his name, say that she really did want to marry him. But the truth was that Kirstin really did not want to marry Carter, that she was still in love with Sandy.

Kaitlyn lay in bed beside Zach, her head resting on his chest. She ran a hand in circles around his stomach, kissing him tenderly. "You don't how badly I have missed you, Zach. I wanted you so badly but…"

Zach rubbed her head, massaging her scalp. "I missed you too Kaitlyn. I'm sorry that it took me so long to return. I'm sorry that I waited this long to come back for you."

Kaitlyn sat up in bed, wrapping the silk sheets around her body. "There's so much that has happened, Zach." Tears began to stream down Kaitlyn's cheeks as she began to sob into her hands. "Marissa…she's dead and…my mom and dad—they seem to be having such problems lately and it's so hard to think about, so hard to realize that everything's falling apart."

"Kaitlyn, everything's going to be better now. I'm here."

"I know," Kaitlyn whispered. "When you came back, made love to me, told me you loved me and would never leave me again…Everything just seems better now. Everything seems to be perfect. Not perfect but…I mean…things are getting there."

Julie kissed Luke passionately as he slammed her into the wall, ripping open her blouse. "I've been waiting all day for this, baby," he moaned as he ripped open her blouse. "God I've been waiting all day for this."

"Luke," Julie moaned. "Luke, I love you…"

Julie glanced around the room at the small bedside tables, the picture frames, the lamps, the flowers, the television, the clothes, the perfume and shoes and everything reminded her of her family. She could not make love to Luke here, not in her own bedroom.

"Luke…I can't…" she groaned, pushing him away, but Luke kept on kissing her.

"What do you mean you can't?" Luke groaned as he unbuckled his belt. "I'm ready for this, babe."

"No, Luke…this isn't right."

"Maybe we should have thought of that earlier. Like seven years ago." He shoved her onto the bed, pulling off her bra. "Now come on Julie, don't start rethinking things now."

"No, Luke, I'm being serious, stop it! We can't keep doing this! I'm betraying Jimmy! I'm hurting my family by having this affair with you! It's tearing us apart."

Luke ignored her pleas and began to enter Julie, shoving her down on the bed. She began to cry, not knowing what to do, not trying to fight it. "Please, Luke, stop. I don't want to do this anymore." She grabbed his back, clawing him, trying to push him away from her. "Luke, stop it, please…"

But Luke wouldn't listen.

Kaitlyn grabbed her robe and draped it over her shoulders. "I'm going downstairs for coffee. You care to come?"

Zach grinned. "I might just stay up here and wait for you to come back. Don't worry." He winked. "I'll be ready."

Kaitlyn grinned.

Seth glided out onto the patio, staring off into the distance in a sense of melancholy. "It's so beautiful," he murmured, sitting in the wheelchair, his head resting for once for the week. "I can't believe how long I've been away."

Summer walked over to him, placing her arms on his shoulders. "So I called the wedding planner. She says we're going to meet Saturday, okay?"

Seth nodded. "Okay." He pushed himself up in the chair, boosting himself upwards towards Summer in order to give her a kiss.

Kaitlyn heard the crying, the screaming, the moaning, the loud racket coming from her parent's bedroom. She did not know what to expect. Her mother? Her father? Them together? Perhaps her father or mother in an elicit affair? It all sounded so violent—so sexual.

"Mom?" Kaitlyn called softly, but she knew whoever was in that room could not hear her. She reached for the door knob, turning it quickly. "Mom, you okay?"

Then she saw Luke, straddling her mother, shoving himself into her, as Julie screamed for him to stop, for him to let her go. "Kaitlyn! Go away! Luke, stop! Stop please!"

Kaitlyn glanced around the room, shocked, not knowing what to do. Luke was raping her mom. She had never been in a situation like this before. All she knew was that she had to get Luke off of her mother, and fast.

"Luke, stop!" Julie cried, trying to shove him away.

Kaitlyn ran over to a night stand, grabbing a large bulky lamp and ripping its cord from the wall. "Luke!' Kaitlyn screamed as she ran over towards him. "Let my mother go! Let her go now!" She slammed the lamp into Luke's head. One time. Two Times. Three times. Four times. Kaitlyn found herself unable to stop.

"Ryan," Marissa muttered. "Ryan, where did you go? I missed you."

Ryan grinned, "Just come with me, Marissa. We can be together. I love you."

He took her hand and began to pull her towards him. "Come towards me. Towards life."

And Marissa took another step towards the man she loved.

1 Read "Of Days Passed By," the seventh season of the O.C. by Tangence McCurson in order to get the full story on Sandy's death and Kirstin's suicide attempt.


	18. I Remember

**STOP. **If you haven't read the previous chapters of _The O.C.: Of Days to Come _("season 8') or, even more importantly, _The O.C.: Of Days Past By_, quickly skim through the chapters or read previous updates. It is significant to the story that one knows that _The O.C.: Of Days Past_ By (Season 7) takes its lead from the season 2 finale of the O.C., not any following (more horrible) seasons. You know, where Trey got shot. Except in Season 7 he's actually dead, etc. etc. But I don't need to tell you all about that.

So here we go.

Thanks for your patience.

Chapter Eighteen

There are times in our lives (or deaths, depending who you are) when we have to make significant decisions. Some of the decisions are good, bad, but either way they will have a major impact on our lives. If one makes the wrong choice, he or she will have to deal with their decisions for the rest of their lives.

Life,

Death,

The In Between…

Sometimes it's hard to know what's real, what isn't.

When we have to make decisions.

What those decisions are.

What the right choices are.

Or, rather, if we want to make the right choices. Because for some people, right can be wrong. Or wrong can be right. Life is screwy, shitty, bitchy, but sometimes…great.

White light, flashing, heat and roaring noises illuminate Marissa's ear drums with such intensity she can hardly bare to move. She's stuck in a parallel, something that isn't real but is, because she _is _dead, but she _isn't _all at the same time. She thinks she's dead, medical personnel and law enforcement officials believe the young Californian beauty to be dead, but yet….

Blurred figures that are standing together, apart, in different worlds, all waiting for her, because they are dead, they are knowing, they want her to come to them so that they can tell her the secrets of the afterlife.

And in the center of them—Ryan. He's smiling and gorgeous and loving and caring and he just wants her back. He knows she's not dead. He knows that she, Marissa Cooper, the love of his life, is alive…

She's been missing for months, yet he still has hope, Ryan still manages to hope, or love, or something like that. Marissa has no idea who he is, but she feels his love, his warmth, the rays of light that are filtering from his skin. She has no recollection of her former life because of the—

Explosion.

Music is playing somewhere, organs, soft, loud, rumbling, shaking the entire foundation she walks on—no, there is no foundation. She's just walking, white, multi-colored rainbows shimmering in the air, tears streaming down her face, and she's crying, calling out his name, wanting, needing, and she's

dead.

Ryan vanishes, but the other figures—Sandy, Alex, Trey, Caleb, they all stand together, staring at her, knowing that she's dead, not dead, given up because she can't remember now.

"Try to remember," says Sandy.

"Who are you?" Marissa asks,

"You know who I am, Marissa."

Her name sounds so foreign to her brain. She smiles softly, trying to remember, knowing his face, not knowing who exactly this man is, wanting to know, wanting to ask him, but afraid he will be offended.

"Remember me?" He asks, begs, wants her to know him but then he realizes that she doesn't. He steps toward her, takes her hand, massages it gently, and she's saying, "No, I don't remember you," the entire time, wanting to remember, trying to remember, only remembering the explosion, the fire, the fainting, and suddenly he pulls her towards him and says, "You have to remember," but she can't, it's impossible for her to remember him, impossible for Marissa to remember anything because she wants to so badly, maybe that's why, maybe that's the reason why she can't remember anything, anything at all, at all, at all.

"Try," he says, touching her hair, her cheek, and saying, "I know that if you try, you can remember, Marissa. You were always a smart girl." Hearts, floating, vanishing, exploding, Valentine's and then she recalls the Valentine's Day so many years ago when she and Ryan had broken up and Sandy had comforted her.

'"I'm trying," she murmured. "I'm trying my hardest."

"No, you're not," he said, and vanished.

Next, the girl, Alex, came up to her, and Marissa remembered her face, she remembered it so well, she remembered her body too, she remembered her body _without clothes_, and she knew something was strange, something was wrong. Marissa touched her arm, said, "Who are you?" And Alex leaned in and kissed her, kissed her hard, her warm tongue enveloping Marissa's, massaging it gently, but Marissa still couldn't remember the girl without the clothes, not her name, not who she was, not what role she had played in her life.

Then she disappeared.

The old man came next, frowning, always frowning, Marissa beginning to remember him now, beginning to recall that he probably did frown a lot, he was always angry, or unhappy, or both, because his life was never right, nothing was ever right, but why wasn't it right? She couldn't remember why his life wouldn't be completely perfect. Money, flowing money, large houses and cars and scandal and sex and babies and suddenly—

He disappeared too.

The young man was next. He was a few years younger than Marissa, completely gorgeous, and smiling. She was extremely attracted to him, to this man that stood before him, she felt kin, loving, wanted to touch him, felt some sort of passion for this man here. He asked her if she remembered him, but she couldn't say, she wasn't sure if she remembered him or not. He leaned in and began to kiss her, her neck, her shoulders, began to undress her, no, she wasn't dressed, that was it. His chest, muscular, his arms, strong, began to wrap around her body as he entered her, roaming her body with his tongue, kissing hard, pushing himself inside her faster, harder, as he began to climax, as she began to climax, but suddenly she didn't want this anymore, his nude body atop her's, and she tried to push him away, but he was moving faster now, angrily, pushing her down against the rainbows, the whiteness, the infinity, and she tried to scream but WHERE WAS SHE, she was no where, she tried to push him away, and he kept himself inside her even after they climaxed, and she remembered this, and as she massaged his back she felt the hole, the blood, and remembered that too, and suddenly she came back too and she remembered everything.

Everything.

Ryan stepped into Keegan's bedroom, staring at her, his eyes soft, begging for forgiveness. Please, he almost said, please forgive me. Keegan sat there, combing her hair, staring at him, wondering what he was going to say, but no, he didn't have to say anything, just the fact that he had come, just the fact that he was here with his eyes which were begging for forgiveness, that was enough to satisfy her.

"I'm sorry," he said as Keegan stood.

"I know you still love her but," Keegan kissed his lips, his cheek, his neck, began to unbutton his shirt, revealing his pecks, his ripped abdomen, belly button, trail of dark curly hair. She reached to unbutton his pants. "I can deal with that for now, because I love you, but some day, some day you have to stop."

"I love you," he said, as she unzipped his pants. He pulled her shirt over her head, pushed her onto the bed, jerked down her skirt as he kissed her rapidly, pushed himself inside her madly and began to make his way towards climax.

Kaitlyn stood above the body, trembling furiously, the murder weapon in her hand. Her naked mother lay on the bed, white face, tears streaming from her eyes, down to her chin, and she began to call Luke's name in pain. Kaitlyn didn't understand what was going on, what had happened, she just knew that…

He was dead.


	19. Incestual Relationships

**Note to reader: If I don't receive reinforcement that people are actually reading and liking my story, I will have to retire it after this chapter.**

**-Tangence**

Chapter Nineteen

They dragged the body out into the backyard, searching desperately for onlookers, witnesses to their crime against mankind, against—Luke. It was wrapped in a rug, because that's what Julie said they ALWAYS did in horror/murder movies, but Kaitlyn replied with a cold, "Don't they get caught, Mom?" Which, of course, shut Julie up, for once in her life.

Zach, who had stumbled downstairs after hearing the loud racket, assisted in digging a grave for the body. He stared down coldly at the body which the two women teamed up together in order to dump into the gaping hole. Zach stood there, somber, quiet, a solitary tear running down the side of his face. He had been close friends with Luke on the water polo team back in high school before all of…this.

Julie dusted her hands off on her pants, crying, crying, because she knew in her heart…

Kaitlyn glared at her mother, cold, white, in an effort to tell her, "Toughen the fuck up. If you hadn't been banging him, he wouldn't be fucking dead." And then she seemed to add a silent, "Bitch."

She was infuriated. Not only that her mother was cheating on her father—not only that she was cheating on him with a man she had slept with years and years before, who was her dead sister's ex-boyfriend, the one she had lost her virginity to, the man Kaitlyn had lost her virginity to (yes, Kaitlyn had, at the age of sixteen, lost her virginity to Luke, whom she had gawked after for years and years on end). She and Luke had not been very close in actuality, yet, she had grown to have strong feelings for her sister's ex-boyfriend. Perhaps even love. No, not love, because she did not know what love was, not yet, no way.

But she had felt something strong for this man who now lay in a hole in the ground waiting to be covered up with dirt. Luckily no one would miss him. His father lived in Portland, his mother had been dead for three years, his two brothers were off at college or whatever. They hated Luke because—well, Kaitlyn forgot. She never really knew them because she stayed at boarding school until recently. Now she was…now she was here and with Zach, who was shoveling dirt onto Luke's body, and she was wondering, wondering when she had become a killer, a cold blooded murderer, when and where everything had changed.

Plop. Plop. Plop.

She stared down at the rug, the rug which contained Luke's body, tears, tears, tears dropping from her chin onto the rug, dirt falling, now the rug was gone, it had disappeared, no more Luke, she would never ever see him again. Kaitlyn said something, something soft, under her breath, Zach nor her mother heard what she had said. Just…something soft. "I'm so so sorry, Luke," she said, feeling terrible remorse that overwhelmed her, filling her from the tips of her toes to the hair on her head, running up her body, overfilling, spilling over into the hole with Luke. He was gone gon e gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone goone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone goone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone goone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gonegone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone goone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone gone .

_Come back Luke. Please._

_I didn't mean to kill you._

_I promise._

_In fact, I loved you._

_Sort of._

_As a friend._

_As the guy who I lost my virginity to._

_Don't be dead._

Utter and complete silence.

Keegan lay asleep beside Ryan, naked, underneath the sheets of her bed. Soft snores, breathing, silence beside that. Ryan stood, climbing out of bed, his nude body illuminated by the golden light escaping from the window, caressing all the bulk of his body. He stretched, then began to dress, staring down at Keegan, the girl he realized that he might just love, he might just be in love with.

But then it hit him. That's Kirstin's daughter. And although he wasn't technically kin to Kirstin, he was her adopted son, her's and Sandy's, and somehow this struck him as odd, him fucking a girl that was his adopted sister in a way, or close to it, and he was oddly repulsed by his love for her naked form, his lust for her. Was she, in fact, his sister? Did God, if there was one, look down on this type of relationship?

Marissa awoke lying in a hospital bed, police and medical personnel around her, talking hurriedly about her condition, where they had found her at the police station and other odd conversation. She glanced around, pleadingly, wondering where she was, not realizing "this is a hospital, I'm in a hospital," and then she was just happy.

Happy because she knew who she was.

Happy because she was going home, to Ryan, her love.

**If I do continue this story, I will update on Kaitlyn and Julie's and Zach's position in the murder of Luke. I will also finally return to the storylines of Seth and Summer, Kirstin and Carter, and I will talk about Marissa's trip home. This season will end on chapter 22, if people tell me to continue. I hope you do, because I enjoy writing the story, but I don't think I should write if people don't like it.**

**Sincerely,**

**Tangence**


	20. I've Already Tried to Move On

**Note to reader: I would like to thank everyone who has read and commented on the previous chapters of _The O.C.: Of Days to Come_. I'm really looking forward to writing the next few chapters of this story (I've decided that there will be twenty-four instead of twenty-two). I really hope that you enjoy this story and the previous story (the prequel, or rather, just another season in my O.C. world, if you can refer to it as such). So please enjoy and I hope you like all of the twists I'm forming for this season. **

Chapter Twenty

_Twenty four hours from now_

The doorbell rang, and Ryan didn't know who could be calling on him at this hour of the morning. He stood, stretching, muscular chest illuminated by the light in his closet. Draping the robe over his shoulders, he walked towards the door, glancing out of the window to see who was there. A tall, lanky figure slunk on the porch, staring at the door blankly. Long messy hair, a thin face, everything was all so familiar. Ryan called, "Who is it?" But there was no response. He opened the door, peeking his head outside, expecting Oliver, a gun, someone to blow a hole in his face. But no.

It was her.

Actually her. Marissa Cooper.

_Now-ish_

"Seth?" Summer sat on the bed, watching the bathroom, the light, it was on, Seth was in the shower, scrubbing himself with foam and soap. "Seth, I've been thinking." She stared at the ring on her finger. Luke. She loved two men. One she was engaged to. One she had banged a lot, and now he was with Anna, now he was…no they had broken up. So what was Luke doing now? "Seth, are you…are you listening?"

"Yah," he said, turning off the shower water, stepping out, thin lanky body, slightly muscled, black hair trailing down his stomach to his crotch. He was so beautiful, but so what Luke. She loved two men, two men, and what could she do now but…but decide who she was going to be with?

Of course, common sense said Seth. He was handsome in a geeky way, O.K. in bed, loved her, and they were engaged. Although Kirstin did not seem to like Summer anymore, Seth still loved her, said he cared for Summer more than any person in the world.

"Seth, we need to talk."

"Summer, I'm in a hurry to get to work," he said, pulling on a pair of boxer briefs, a t-shirt. "Can this wait?"

Summer stared at the wall, her head spinning a bit, then said, "Yeah, yeah sure."

"Do you still love me?" he asked.

Kirstin stared at Sandy, dead Sandy, her eyes blank, her lips pursed, her face white white white. "Yes, yes I do. You know I do, Sandy. I'll always love you."

"Then why are you with him?" asked her dead husband, motioning to the man standing beside the bed in his boxers, going through his wallet, looking for something.

"Sandy, you know I love you but…Don't you want me to move on?"

"No."

"But Sandy, I can't mourn you forever." Her eyes became misty, watery, a tear trickled down her cheek. "I can't cry forever."

"Why not?"

Anna sat at her desk, phone in hand, ringing, ringing, ringing. Luke, please pick up. I just need to hear your voice, if nothing else. Please. She bowed her head, mournfully, as she placed the receiver back in its cradle. She lifted it again to her ear, redialing his number, hoping, praying that Luke would somehow, somewhere answer his phone.

_When you're near me I have no fear _

_When I'm untrue you see right through me_

_You know me as deep as the sea goes_

_Calm my head whenever a storm blows_

_When the stars, and the moon, and the sky_

_Fall through_

_I throw them all away_

Keegan stood at the kitchen counter, preparing Ryan and her meal, not really there, absent to some extent. She was in love with Ryan. She knew this. But she wasn't quite sure how in love Ryan was with her. He seemed even more absent than she was today, staring off into space, not answering her questions, and Keegan began to wonder where he was, his mindset, in this relationship. She missed him although she had known him for such a short period of time. She wanted him, needed him, and she wasn't sure why he was being so distant.

The C.D. skipped, and she cursed it.

Something was wrong. He wasn't happy. Maybe he was…but not truly, blissfully, unchangeably happy.

There was something wrong with him.

Kaitlyn sat at the table across from her mother. She was quiet, stern, staring at a clock, tick tick tickc tick, and she didn't know what to do. She had murdered someone. She had killed someone. She had killed the man she lost her virginity to. She did not know how to come back from that.

Julie grabbed at her hair, crying, tears streaming down her face. "What have we done? What have we done?"

Kaitlyn wanted to shake her, scream in her face, tell her to toughen the fuck up, but she didn't know what would happen, how her mother would react—no, she knew how she would react, but there was something holding her back. Kaitlyn was mean but…she wasn't a killer.

Zach sat on the kitchen's island's counter, staring at a knife in his hand, twirling it absent-mindedly. "What have we done?" Julie continued.

"Shut up," Zach said, finally. He was the one who said it. He shut Julie up. She was still crying, but silent now, oh-so-silent. "We just need to think things through. What happened exactly? Kaitlyn?"

Kaitlyn stared at the clock, blankly.

"Kaitlyn?"

She bit her lip, wanted to scream, scream, scream.

"Kaitlyn, why did you kill Luke?"

Marissa sat on her seat in the plane, staring out the window, at the blank sky. She was so happy to be coming home, to be finally coming home.

Luke woke in the ground, not knowing where he was, crying out, wrapped up in the rug, suffocating. He was alive but dying. He needed help, he needed to escape. He began to claw at the rug desperately trying to escape but couldn't. Air was leaving his body, he was dying quickly now. He had no idea what was happening, just thought of Julie, just Julie, and wondered why he was dying, why this was happening to him, why someone had done this to him.

"KAITLYN!" Zach screamed, almost, veins in his neck pulsing. Red, red, red, white, white, purple, blue, bursting lights. Zach collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

"Oh my God!" screamed Kaitlyn, leaping to her feet, darting for her boyfriend.

_After twenty-four hours._

Ryan stood before her, flabbergasted. "You're dead. I've grown…I've become….I've come to terms with your death. You're dead. You can't be here."

She was silent.

"I've moved on. I have a new girlfriend now. I have to say good-bye to you. You're dead. Dead. You've got to leave."

Marissa frowned, tears streaming down her cheeks. And she evanesced into thin air.

Marissa walked through the airport towards the swinging doors. She was going home. Finally going home to Ryan.

Ryan sat on the front porch, tears streaming down his cheeks, begging Marissa to leave. But she was always with him. She would always be with him.

**Next time on _The O.C.: Of Days to Come._**

**Unexpected twists.**

**Marissa returns.**

**Seth and Summer contemplate breaking up.**

**Keegan is the third wheel.**

**Ryan's got to decide…**

**Kirstin is having very odd conversations with who she perceives to be "Sandy." Is she mad?**

**Carter may be in, um, danger.**

**Anna's determined to find Luke, at any cost.**

**Zach and Kaitlyn go to the hospital.**

**Luke is trapped, alive, six feet beneath the ground.**

**I seriously think I'm all out of plotlines.**

**Kidding.**

**A big UNEXPECTED twist. Slash-ish, maybe?**

**Gosh, we hope not…**


	21. Drown in Your Deception, Baby

**NOTE TO READER: It is best to read this story while listening to certain music. I recommend "Swans" by Unkle Bob, "Eyes," by Rogue Wave, "Nowhere Warm," by Kate Havnevik, and other related artists. Please email me for a more in depth list. I promise it will greatly improve your reading experience.**

Chapter Twenty One

Who am I? I'm Marissa Cooper. And I've come home.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

This time, there was knocking at the door. Soft banging……………………………………………………………………………

"Will you get it?" asked Keegan, sprawled out on the bed. She wasn't really awake, wasn't really asleep, wasn't even that sure that there was someone at the door this time. Just knew there was a loud BANG BANG BANG BANG or rather a soft bang bang bang bang echoing throughout her house.

Ryan groaned, yawning, stretching, nude form illuminated in the silver light of the moon. He pulled on some pajama pants and went to answer the door. Walking there, no, trudging there, rather, he pulled it open, said, eyes half-closed, wondering who it could be, this early in the morning and oh my God—

"Ryan!" gasped Marissa, falling into his bare arms, leaning her head against his chest as she began to sob his name over and over again. "Ryan. Ryan, Ryan, Ryan, I've missed you so very very much!" She wrapped her arms around his back, pulled him closer to her, wanting to feel his warmth, his body, know he was real.

Ryan just stood there, dumbfounded, disbelieving what was happening was real. Maybe it was just a dream; all just a dream.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"I'll move the body somewhere else tomorrow night," said Zach, his arms wrapped around Kaitlyn. "I'll take care of it. Everything's going to be O.K. And if anyone finds out, you did it in self-defense. Or defense of your mother. Or whatever it was."

Kaitlyn leaned into him, wanting to touch every part of his body, feel his warmth pressed against her, reassuringly, just to know someone was there, someone would always be there. She wanted someone to be there. She needed someone to be there for her. She glanced up at Zach, her eyes misty, wandering how he could possible make everything O.K.

But somehow it would work out.

Somehow.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

"You know I love you, right?" asked Seth, struggling move himself from the wheelchair onto the bed.

"Yes, Seth—I know you love me," laughed Summer.

"Future Mrs. Cohen."

"Future Mr.—Oh, wait…"

The two laughed in unison.

Summer said she was going to take a shower, so Seth climbed back into his wheelchair and rolled back outside, towards the poolhouse. Ryan was gone. He had moved away. It pained Seth that he didn't live here anymore. That he couldn't visit Ryan, talk with him anytime he wanted to—he wanted his best friend back. And to some extent, Ryan was something more than that.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Interruptions.

She had been interrupted.

Her life.

Her whole existence.

She was stirring, trying to wake, struggling against sleep. Candy's eyelids began to flutter as she began to awaken from the coma Seth had put her into. The one from the fall. The one that arisen from the death of her lover, caused by Summer Roberts, and then when Seth, heroically, had defended Summer—

Her eyes fluttered open, and she just lay there, staring up at the ceiling, frozen in her bed, unable to move. She was dying. She had to survive, though. Candy had to survive. Simply so that she could take revenge on Summer. Summer who had taken the man she had loved. Summer whose boyfriend had almost murdered Candy.

She was going to kill Summer Roberts.

The future Mrs. Cohen.

She had to.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Holly sat beside Derek, trying to remember when she had become the woman she was today. She had once been a bubbly valley girl who slept with everyone on the water polo team. She had once been the girl who made straight B's, laughed at stupid jokes, talked about fat people—did everything she could to hurt people in general. She had once been cruel and cold and just mean. Holly had no idea where she had changed.

Derek kissed Holly's neck gently. He was forty-ish, her boss at a law-firm, handsome with a gorgeous body, slept with every woman ever—but yet Holly didn't love him. In fact, she barely knew him. Excluding the fact that he was her boss. Oh, and he liked his coffee black. But tonight, on his desk, they were about to make love, and she had no idea why.

She couldn't do this. Return to that same slutty girl she had once been. She couldn't be that person. She had grown up. She wanted to be an attorney now, work in a big firm, do big things. She didn't want to sleep with her boss in order to achieve big things. She wanted to do these big things on her own.

Holly pushed Derek away, not caring about his values or his needs. All she wanted to do was get out of here. She climbed off the desk and walked out of the room briskly, leaving Derek sitting in his desk dumbfounded.

She turned a corner, not happy, not at all. She didn't have to sleep with men to advance at the workforce. She didn't have to offer sexual favors to her colleagues. This wasn't the new Holly's way. The new Holly—no.

Holly took out a cigarette from her purse and lit it, breathing in the smoke, exhaling, then breathing in again. She leaned against her own desk, waiting to see if Derek would come in and fire her. After a few minutes, he did come rampaging in, screaming, shouting, asking her why she had suddenly left and threatening to let her go.

Holly didn't care. She could go wherever she wanted.

She ignored his threats and continued to smoke, sighing smoke, breathing smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke.

He left, ran to his car, angry as usual. When wasn't he angry?

Holly dropped the cigarette into her trash can and walked from her own office, her own desk, not realizing it would be the last time she would ever see them again.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Theresa sat at her kitchen table, also smoking a cigarette, watching her and Ryan's son playing in her back yard. He was so cute. He ran around and jumped and played and kicked a ball and threw it and climbed up a swing set and slid down the slide. He was so enthralled with life. Theresa on the other hand wasn't. Theresa was dealing with the death of her mother. Theresa was dealing with Eddie's depression. Theresa was dealing with her debt and the funeral costs and not knowing what to do day-to-day in order to provide for her and Ryan's son.

Ryan.

That seemed to be the key.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Marissa kissed Ryan's lips and his face and tried to push him inside and he gave in, weak, not realizing that this was his girlfriend, the woman he loved, the woman he had lost. He let her push him into the kitchen, kissing, kissing passionately, unable to control themselves.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Seth sat by the pool staring at his engagement ring, the one Summer gave him, expensive, luxurious, wonderful. He took it off, began to spend it round, then glanced back up at the poolhouse. He missed Ryan so much. So very much.

The ring slipped from his fingers, flying through the air, descending into the water of the pool with a soft sploosh. Seth, in immediate reaction, leaned over to try and catch it, toppling out of his chair and into the pool. Flopping around in eight foot deep water, unable to use his legs, crying for Summer's help, he submerged, unable to stay afloat.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Keegan woke to a crashing sound coming from the kitchen. She stood and walked out of her room, down a hallway, and into the kitchen. She saw a pot on the floor and Ryan and some girl, each half naked, on the kitchen table.

**Next Week (THREE MORE CHAPTERS/EPISODES LEFT!):**

**Who will really die?: Seth, Summer, Luke, Anna, Kaitlyn, Zach, Ryan, Marissa, Keegan?**

**We have (re)introduced CHARACTERS! (FROM THE FIRST and in Theresa's case, also second—SEASON of the O.C.) What trivial roles will they play in the rest of the Newpsie's lives?**

**What's going to happen to Holly?**

**What's going to happen with Theresa/her finances?**

**What about the Keegan-Ryan-Marissa love triangle?**

**Seth and Summer seemed pretty calm until now, but now Seth's DROWNING, and Summer's got a death warrant with her name stamped all over it.**

**Kaitlyn may have killed Luke. What will happen when ANNA returns to Newport in order to find out about her ex-boyfriend?**

**Zach's trying to deal with Kaitlyn/murder. What will happen?**

**Julie's depressed….um…..**

**However, cases that may seem the least intense may prove to be the most exciting!**

**What about Jimmy?!?!?!**

**Oh, and why was Kirstin seeing Sandy before???**

**You'll find out…. **

**In the next three chapters/episodes.**

**P.S. If I don't receive positive feedback that readers like the story/twists/character development, I'll have to retire it after this season. **

**Notify me if you have any advise/tips/problems with the story! I'm very receptive to criticism!!!**

**---Tangence**


	22. Kill the Customer, Whore

**Previously on _THE O.C.: OF DAYS TO COME SEASON 8_ and _THE O.C.: OF DAYS PAST BY SEASON 7_:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

**You know you love someone when:**

**Like Seth, you defend Summer in order to save her from a savage, vengeful girlfriend of the photographer Summer accidentally killed. Complicated…**

**Zach and Reichen are both fighting over Kaitlyn, and Zach leaves his mistress in order to be with her, but his mistress kills himself.**

**Kirstin tries to kill herself after Sandy's death. Now Sandy's sort of back in her deranged mind or for real??? and is ordering her to do something if she loves him.**

**Like Ryan, you search for your girlfriend (Marissa) desperately, only to find out she's sort of dead.**

**Anna returns to Newport in order to find Luke after she broke up with him, due to a misunderstanding (she thought he cheated on her) and she doesn't even realize that, now, he's dead.**

**Kaitlyn kills Luke in order to defend her mother.**

**Carter loves Kirstin despite the baggage.**

**Keegan loves Ryan despite his, too.**

**Like I already stated: COMPLICATED.**

**You know it's getting more complicated because:**

**Marissa's returned, and now there's some bizarre love triangle between her-Ryan-and Keegan. Oh, and Seth might be included in this?**

**Seth falls in the pool, not to mention he's paralyzed from the waist down, in order to save his wedding ring.**

**Summer's attacker, Candy, wakes up from a coma and wants revenge.**

**Theresa needs money for her and Ryan's son, so she's returning to Newport.**

**Something's up with Holly.**

**Kaitlyn killed Luke, Zach and her mom are accomplices, her dad doesn't know, and Anna's returning to find her long lost boyfriend.**

**Oh, my God.**

**But it gets even worst:**

**Someone (or more than someone's) going to die. **

**Someone's going to break up.**

**Someone else is going to die. (Like two or three people???)**

**The most stunning conclusion, ever. It WILL shock you.**

**CHAPTER TWENTY TWO**

**THE FINAL THREE BEGIN _NOW_**

Kaitlyn stood over the mound of dirt that was thin and reddish-brown, hovering over Luke's body, the boy who was dead, the man she knew she had killed. Her mom was somewhere inside, crying as usual, and her dad was probably off drinking somewhere, or doing business, or having dinner with one of his girlfriends, which she knew he had now, she just knew it. Her life was so messed up. How did everything come to this? Her sister was dead. Julie Cooper was, yet again, having an affair with Luke Ward. Jimmy Cooper was sleeping around, gambling away his money, drinking, drinking, drinking. And, when Luke had tried to rape her mom, Kaitlyn had killed him. Kaitlyn killed someone. She was a murderer. A murderer.

Kaitlyn couldn't live with this. She couldn't. She couldn't bare her conscience, her thoughts, everything that was going on in her mind. She had to end this. She had to end her life. She couldn't live without Marissa alive and Luke alive and her mom and dad together. She couldn't make things work.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ryan slid his hands up and down Marissa's side, massaging her gently, kissing her lips, her face, her earlobe. He knew that Keegan was in this house, in his bed, sleeping. He knew but he didn't care. Because the love of his life was back and alive and doing well. She was doing perfect. Now they could be together and have sex all they wanted and get married and he didn't have to think about her being dead anymore, about Oliver, about anything. No, there was nothing left, nothing left to deal with.

He glanced up from the love of his life, glanced up and saw the other girl he loved, thought he loved, wasn't sure about, standing in the kitchen's doorway.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Seth's hands flew towards the side of the pool, but he couldn't reach it. His arms were flailing, he was drowning, drowning so fast, and he was sinking, oxygen leaving his body as he fell, deeper and deeper, not knowing how he would ever come up, how he would ever survive this. He said good-bye. He said good-bye to Summer, to his mom, to Ryan, to everyone he loved and cared for, and then said hello to his father for the first time in a long time, glad, happy for a moment, and he began to urgently search for a Marissa. Meanwhile, his body lay in the bottom of the pool. Infinity pool. Infinity.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Candy climbed onto the plane and immediately found her seat. She was headed to Newport. She was going to find that bitch who had cost her a year of her life, killed her boyfriend, put her into a coma. She was going to find Summer Roberts and rip her open, find out what she was all about, learn, examine, and then spit on it, drill holes into her body, her eyes, and laugh, laugh the entire time, because she was so angry, so entirely angry that she couldn't bare it. She wasn't evil. Just angry. Angry some girl had killed her boyfriend. Some girl had just done away with her life. And, in a way, Candy's too.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The office was in flames. The entire law firm was burning to the ground. It was in ashes, flames, shooting up, blackening the sky. Holly sat in her car watching the flames, the chaos, not realizing, really, what was going on. She just knew that her life was going up into the air with that smoke. Her boss would accuse her of setting the burning down the building. Holly had to get away. Holly had to run as fast as she could. Back to Newport. Reclaim her life, her family, rebuild everything, get away, and start anew. She would make things work. She would.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Theresa sat in her car, driving, her son in the back seat. She was heading to Newport, everyone heading to Newport. She needed money. Money for rent. Money for food. Money for everything, everything. She couldn't survive on her own. She needed Ryan. She needed him back.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"What do you want me to do, Sandy?" asked Kirstin, staring at her husband, the man who had been dead for so long, wondering why he was hear, why he was so angry at her. He looked dead. He didn't look alive, as he once had.

"I want you to do away with him," Sandy said, pointing at Carter Buckley who was in the shower, lathering himself with soap.

"But Sandy—"

"Don't, 'Sandy' me. I know you've been sleeping with him. You slut," he said, angry, infuriated, his face green, rageful. "Do it, now. Whore. I know you didn't wait for me. You should have waited for me."

Kirstin began to cry. "I tried Sandy, but I couldn't. I tried to kill myself, I wanted to be with you, but I couldn't."

"You're weak."

"I can't help it, Sandy, please—"

"Kill him," Sandy demanded.

Kistin glanced up at her husband, her eyes enraged, misty, and she just wanted to please him, to prove him wrong. She said, "O.K." She said, "I'll do it, soon."

"Tomorrow night," hissed Sandy.

"O.K.," said Kirstin. "Tomorrow night."

…**To be continued**


	23. Awakening, Part II

**Dear Reader,**

**Thank you for reading and commenting this entire time on Season 7 and 8. I've decided that, not only will I do a prequel to the Season 7 story line (starting with Season 5 and working back) but I will also begin work on Season 9, if people enjoy these stories. In Season 5, I will introduce a relationship that many people may not enjoy, also describing different relationships/problems that have occurred in MY story, not the actual O.C. Note to reader: If you read the chapter twenty-two which I deleted, you will know the three relationships I'm talking about that you may not like very much, but it will introduce a unique twist to the plotline.**

**In Season 6, I will further the character development, with new twists, relationships, characters, and other things that will later be introduced into Season 9.**

**I hope you will enjoy, and follow along with the Seasons as I author them.**

**Sincerely,**

**Tangence**

Chapter Twenty –Three

You don't really know how far you will go to take back what was once your's until you lose it. Until what you had disappears. Until it's gone.

This is what Marissa wants.

This is what Kirstin wants.

This is what Ryan wants.

This is what Seth wants.

And this is overall what Candy wants.

Candy sat on the plane, watching the clouds, the sky, Earth pass her by. She said hello to it all. She said good-bye to it all. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be here. She wanted revenge. She wanted to hurt Summer Roberts and Seth Cohen for all they did to her, for all they did. They ruined her life, her life which was so wonderful, so perfect, just ripped it to shreds. Now it was ruined, and all she could think about was getting them back, she just wanted to get back at them, that was all she could think to do, all she could think about. And that was the worst part of all.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ryan tried to explain to Keegan, but really he couldn't . She caught him half naked on their kitchen table, with Marissa, his former girlfriend. The one they all had thought was dead. And now he was sitting across from her at a coffee shop, holding her hand, gripping it tightly, not wanting to let go, not really caring what Keegan thought even though he loved her. All he cared about was Marissa. All he wanted to do was hold her and kiss her for the rest of his life. But Keegan—he couldn't think about this. Not now. Not while she was alive.

Sure, he was a bit shocked that she wasn't dead. He had thought so for so long a time. And then she just showed up at his doorstep out of the blue. He had said good-bye to her. Good-bye for good. Never to see or hear from her again. But here she was, showing up at his front door, just like in his dreams, alive, alive, alive. All was well with her.

Ryan was a bit conflicted, in love with two women, but still, he was so ecstatic, so shocked, and he had to just live in the moment, in the right now, at least for a little while.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Summer stepped out of the shower, began to towel off, reached for her robe, and began to call for Seth. Where was he? He had left when she went to take her shower. Maybe he'd gone to pick up something to eat, or downstairs to cook (haha), or something like that.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Julie couldn't believe that Luke was dead. That she had tried to deny him sex, tried to say no finally, and when she did that, he had died. He had tried to rape her. Tried to force her to satisfy his pleasures. And when Kaitlyn walked in—when Kaitlyn came in and saw that he was raping Julie, that Julie was screaming—Kaitlyn killed Luke. Her baby killed the man she had been in love with . And why had this happened? Because Julie had wanted to make amends with her family, set things right, get her life in order.

Now it was just really screwed up. Even more so than before.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Seth's hands grappled for the side of the pool, trying to come up for air. He had woken after seeing his father, angry and green and frowning. Why was he doing this? Seth had stared at his father for the longest time. That was when his father said, "I'm disappointed in the man you've become, Seth Cohen."

Seth had been astonished. Why was his father disappointed in him?

"You haven't been taking care of your mother," he hissed. "You left her to fend for herself!" he crowed. "With that man—that Carter."

Seth just stared at his father in shock.

"And now look what happened. Look what she's about to do."

Seth didn't understand.

"Death."

"I know, Dad, you're dead."

"Murder."

"Huh?"

"You don't understand what I mean, do you?" he asked.

Seth didn't.

"Your mother. Go find your mother. GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!"

That was when Seth had awoken, at the bottom of the pool, deprived of all oxygen, grasping for the ladder, the side of the pool, unable to reach the surface because he couldn't use his legs.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Kaitlyn sat in the bathtub, staring at the razor in her hands. Her sister was dead. Her mother was basically insane with grief, self-pity. Luke was dead too. And her father?

Kaitlyn stared at the razor, the glint, her reflection. I hate the person I've become.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Kirstin sat in the restaurant across from Carter, grinning. He grinned back. He had no idea. But Kirstin didn't either, really. Not knowing what she was going to do to him. Or, rather, how she was going to do it. Just knew what she had to do—for her husband, who was dead, for her family, her sons, her new daughter.

She had to get this man out of her life.

The best way possible….

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Candy hailed down a taxi, waving her arms frantically in order to make it stop.

She was going to get revenge. She wasn't evil. She wasn't dark. She was just vengeful. There was a difference. Summer Roberts had ruined her life twice. Twice. All Candy wanted to do was get her back. Which was totally understandable.

Right?

**Next time: Season 8 Finale**

**Returning characters: Theresa, Holly, and two special guests!**

**Plus, new characters!**

**Three people will die before it all ends. Can you guess who?**


	24. Side Effects

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Final Episode of **_Season 8_**

There are many side effects that come along with taking drugs. Some of these side effects can be harmful and severely damage a person—even causing death. Some can just cause nausea or headaches (oh, don't worry, it'll wear off in a few hours). But when the powerful side effects set in—those that are unexpected (you never, ever expect them to happen to you of all people, not to you.) you have to learn to deal. And sometimes dealing is the hardest aspect of life. Because we can move on as long as things don't change, as long as we don't have to acknowledge a difference in this world of ours.

Difference—change—no, we can't deal with that. Funeral homes. Black churches. Grey skies and total…

Don't deceive me.

Please.

XxxxxxxxxxX

Seth grasped for the side of the pool, the infinity the pool, the pool which had captured infinite moments in the past few years of his life. He felt his legs kicking but didn't pay attention, all he cared about was getting out of the pool, getting to Summer and his mom, yes, his mom, Kirstin, the woman Sandy had warned him against in Death, wherever Death was.

His legs were kicking.

His legs were moving.

Finally, after so long, after being immobile and handicapped for so long—Seth was able to move his legs! He kicked and he kicked and kicked in order to get to the side of the pool, grasping the ledge, pulling himself up with great effort, enthralled and over-joyed at the aspect of being _alive_.

Of having feet that worked.

Of having a mother and a fiancé and a brother—everyone he loved.

Everyone waiting for him.

XxxxxxxxxxX

Candy's taxi pulled to a stop outside the Cohen's residence. She had a gun in her backpack which she had purchased a few minutes ago, a few dollars, a change of clothes, some snack food. She was here to do away with Summer. And possibly Seth, if he was here, because he had played a role in this whole web too.

She thanked the driver and paid him ten dollars over the fee required, climbing out of the car, staring at the McMansion. It was humongous. Summer was in here, somewhere. With that boyfriend who had saved her life and her parents she loved and everyone else, and Candy would kill them all, because she was so angry, so very angry at what had been taken away from _her_.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Seth had a towel wrapped around his body, having no time to change clothes, convinced that his mother was in mortal danger. He lifted the cellular phone to his ear as he climbed into his car, not noticing the taxi in his driveway (pulling out extremely fast, as given orders to do so by Candy) because he didn't have time to notice such seemingly minor details.

The phone rang and rang.

"C'mon, Mom," Seth crowed through the phone-line. "Pick up the fucking phone!"

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Kirstin sat across from Sandy and Carter at the diner, her hands folded in her lap, dressed casually. She too had a gun in her purse. She was prepared to shoot Carter down whenever Sandy said. But Sandy kept murmuring, "Not now, not now, not now," from across the table, and Kirstin began to wonder when an opportune time would arrive.

That was when her phone began to ring, vibrating madly in her purse. She glanced down at it, but Sandy motioned for her not to answer the phone. Kirstin's eyes kept darting down at the shaking phone, and Carter said, "Aren't you going to answer it?"

Kirstin shook her head. "I'm not going to let a silly phone call interrupt our wonderful evening together."

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Ryan stood on the pier beside Marissa, not really sure what to say. He was so happy that she was back, but also confused at the same time. He kept staring at her long brown hair, smiling as he did so, wanting to touch it. He wanted to touch her face too, just to make sure that she was alive. He never wanted to let her out of his sights again, but yet—he was torn. He loved two women. When Marissa had disappeared, when he had thought (had been certain) that she was dead, he had fallen in love with Keegan. And, although there seemed to be something sick and twisted about that relationship, he still loved her.

Ryan grabbed Marissa's hand and brought it up to his mouth, kissing it fiercely. "I love you," he said, pulling her to him. She was crying, had been ever since she had arrived at his house this morning, and he didn't know how to console her. "I love you."

"Why did you move on?" Marissa asked.

"What?"

"Do you know what happened to me there? That whole time you were moving on? I was being tortured, raped, molested by Oliver. You gave up on me. You all gave up on me."

"I didn't give up on you, Marissa. We thought you were dead. We found a body and everything. It's just…I couldn't mourn you forever, Marissa. And to tell the truth, I didn't get over you. Not really."

"What were you doing with that woman? Why were you with her? And so soon?"

"I was trying my best to move on, Marissa."

"But you don't love her, right?" Marissa's eyes were misty, as if made of gel, shaking from side to side. "You love me, right?"

Ryan stared at her, unable to answer.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Seth quickly reversed out of the drive-way, pulling onto the street, anxious to find his mother, to make sure that everything was O.K.

He turned the corner, sped towards—that was when he remembered that he still lived with her. That he had been at her home. So when he had called her phone—where had she been? With whom?

Why was his father so angry?

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Candy ripped open the door and walked into the house, parading past the gigantic staircase, the foyer, the living room, searching for her prey. Where was she? Candy felt like calling, "Summer! Come out, my pretty!" or something like in the movies. But she didn't want to scare the bitch away. She wanted to catch here and kill her. Her boyfriend too.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Ryan into the hotel room, letting Marissa follow him. He kissed her gently and began to unbutton her blouse, sliding it down her sides, unsnapping her bra, revealing her breasts. He pushed her onto the bed, kissing her passionately, when there came a knock at the door.

"Who's there?" he groaned.

"Keegan," a voice called.

XxxxxxxxxxX

Kaitlyn lay in the bloody bathtub when Zach shoved the door open, annoyed she had taken so long. He gasped when he saw that she was so bloody, and when he felt her she was so cold, and his first thought was, "She's dead."

XxxxxxxxxxX

Summer descended the staircase, searching for Seth. She had heard the door open, heard someone enter. She was convinced it was her fiancé. She glanced to the left, glanced to the right, but saw no-one. "Seth!" Summer called. "I'm out of the shower now… Did you get food?" She stepped into the foyer, peering out of the open doorway. Why was it open? She closed it, then turned around. Before her stood Candy.

XxxxxxxxxxX

Anna knocked on the door to the Cooper's home. She had checked everywhere else. At the Ward's. At Luke's residence. Everywhere. When she went into his apartment, finding his cellular phone, Anna had discovered that he had Julie Cooper's cell phone programmed into his contacts. She was positive he had to be here. Near here. Someone here had to know something about her ex-boyfriend.

So she knocked, and waited until Julie Cooper came to the door, sobbing. Anna had no idea what was going on. Then she heard the sound of sirens in the distance. Zach's voice screaming upstairs. "I NEED HELP NOW!"

Julie walked past Anna, towards the ambulance, sobbing that her daughter was dead.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Seth kept trying his mom over and over again, waiting for her to pick up. There was no answer. No response. He knew that, in the bottom of his heart, she was in trouble. He just didn't know how. He didn't know who was putting her in danger, or if she was putting herself in danger but—

Seth floored the gas pedal, not knowing where exactly he was going, just to his mom, to Kirstin Cohen.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Kirstin took another sip from her coke, then glanced up. She saw her dead husband's green, angry face and he said, "O.K., Kirstin. I think it's time." So Kirstin smiled at Carter and said, "Why don't we take a walk?" She said, "I think it will do us some good to get some fresh air." She picked up her hand bag with her slender arm, her golden hair flying over her shoulders, and she climbed out of the booth, feeling dirty already. But this was all for Sandy. She was doing it all for Sandy. So she would be brave and kill Carter just like he wanted. She would do everything just right.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

"Where the fuck are your car keys, bitch?" demanded Candy again, poking the gun into Summer's back. Summer was crying, shocked, not realizing that this was probably the end, the end of her life, the end of everything she knew and loved. She gasped a few words that were barely audible, then Candy screamed, "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOUR CAR KEYS??? TELL ME OR I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU."

She seemed angry. Really angry. And she had every right to be. Summer had ruined her life. But she didn't understand. Her boyfriend had tried to rape Summer. Then Candy had tried to get revenge and it wasn't Summer who'd put Candy into a coma—no, it was Summer's boyfriend Seth, which was even more surprising.

Summer walked into the kitchen, followed by Candy, the gun poked firmly into her back, a silence attached. Summer grabbed the keys and handed them to Candy, t he entire time begging for her life.

"Don't hurt me please don't hurt me please please please," she begged, wanting to fall at Candy's feet, wrap her arms around her ankles, do anything to avoid being slaughtered like a pig.

"Go get in the fucking car," demanded Candy.

'I—I---"

"GO GET IN THE FUCKING CAR, BITCH."

Summer wiped some tears from her eyes, determined now not to die. Just follow her orders. She'll let you live. She has to, right? She has to…

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Kirstin and Carter stood out on the pier, Sandy not far away, whispering directions into Kirstin's ear, directions she already knew and understood quite clearly. "O.K.," she mumbled absently to Sandy. "O.K., O.K."

Carter asked her if everything was alright, leaning against the railing, smiling. He ran a hand through Kirstin's hair, gently massaging her scalp. "You feeling O.K., babe?"

"Yes, I'm feeling O.K.," Kirstin said, reaching into her purse.

XxxxxxxxxxX

Summer was crying as she drove, the entire time Candy poking the gun into her rib cage, threatening to shoot her if she made any sudden movements. Candy looked infuriated, not evil. There was a difference. Anger required some sort of passion. Candy seemed to have that. Candy seemed to have a lot of that.

She shouted at Summer a lot, threats mostly, "I'll kill you," and she called her names like, "Bitch," and "Cunt." When they finally reached Balboa Pier, Candy forced Summer outside and walked her under the pier, poking her the entire time with the gun, Candy's face red and burning, hatred and anger rising from it.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Kaitlyn lay in a hospital bed, almost dead, dying slowly. Her wrists were bandaged up, and the bandages had turned a shade of dark burgundy. Her mother and father and Zach were all crowded around her, the girl that was dying, the girl who missed her sister and her mother and her father and regretted killing a man in order to save her mother's life. The girl who was as good as dead.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

The gun went off, and people began to scream, not knowing what was going on. Kirstin watched Carter's face turn from loving to angry to shocked to amazement. Then he slide over the side of the railing and fail into the dark waters below. She heard his body splash with a resounding thud, and wondered if Sandy was content now that she had fulfilled his orders.

XxxxxxxxxxX

"I'm so sorry," moaned Summer. "Please don't hurt me."

"I'm sure you're sorry. Now that I'm about to kill you."

"Pleeeeease," Summer groaned, reaching for Candy's arm, in order to soother her, to comfort her. "Don't hurt me."

"You took away my life!" screamed Candy. "You killed my boyfriend. You put me in a coma!"

"And for that, I'm sorry. I am truly, really sorry. If I could---"

BAM.

A large gaping hole in Summer's stomach as she collapsed onto the sandy beach, into the waves.

BAM.

Another hole, this time in her shouler.

"I'm really sorry," she groaned, losing life, losing….everything.

"SHUT UP, BITCH!" screamed Candy, tears streaming down her own face, not knowing what she had done, feeling complete regret for it. She dropped the gun, fell to her knees, cried out in misery. "Oh, god, what have I done? What have I done?" She scrambled to her feet, ran up the beach, heard a loud commotion and she began screaming, "Someone! Anyone! Please, we need help!"

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Ryan opened the door, a open robe draped over his body, staring out at Keegan. "What is it?" he asked.

"Ryan, please. Don't go back to her. Come back to me. You thought she was dead. You thought she had died. And you moved on. You moved on to me. Stay with me."

"Keegan, I can't do this right now," Ryan groaned, ready to shut the door.

That was when he saw her, standing in the distance, a child in tow.

Theresa.


End file.
